Faced with exploding costs and a record-high inmate population, the state prison chief is warning that Massachusetts can’t afford its incarceration rate and must alter laws or deliver “angry and unprepared” felons back to society.

“The message to policymakers is we have very limited resources to continue to incarcerate at the rate we’re doing so now,” Department of Correction Commissioner Harold W. Clarke said in an interview with the Herald. “As we speak, I believe we’re right about 144 percent of capacity in the DOC. All the sheriffs will tell you that they are also very crowded. Where are we going from here?”