Latvia's prisons' chief said he faces a mission impossible with a rising number of convicts and a 30 percent cut in the state budget to maintain the facilities.

Police Gen. Visvaldis Pukite, chief of the Latvian prison administration, told Justice Minister Mareks Seglins the number of inmates is growing and by the end of this year the penitentiary system may be left without money, the Baltic Times online reported Friday.

Pukite said the number of inmates rose from 6,500 to 7,200 in the first six months and is expected to reach 7,800 convicts by the end of the year.

The prison administration needs about $4 million to cover the expenditures, Pukite said and added that had the budget not been cut by 30 percent, they would have been able to cope with the growing number of inmates.

Pukite could not offer a solution of his own but agreed with Seglins the prison administration has been hit harder than other parts of the Justice Ministry, the Baltic Times said.