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Turkey, a key NATO ally, has detained tens of thousands of teachers, lawyers, students, judges and other officials amid a crackdown on dissent by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after the failed coup of 2016.

The country’s 384 prisons and detention facilities are already overcrowded, holding 224,974 inmates as of March 20, according to the Ministry of Justice — almost 7 percent over their official capacity, NBC News reports.

Turkey now has the third-highest per capita prison population in Europe, behind only Russia and the tiny post-Soviet dictatorship of Belarus. (The U.S. has the highest rate in the world.)

To fix the problem, the ministry announced in December that it will build 228 more prisons over the next five years.

“Prison wings designed for 20 people are being used to keep up to 45,” opposition CHP party spokesman and former lawmaker Baris Yarkadaş told NBC News. “Some of them must sleep on the floor, others develop respiratory sickness. The solution of Erdogan’s government is just to keep building more prisons.”

Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.