Two remand prisoners spent the night in Dunedin Central Police Station on Tuesday night and three were remanded there on Monday night.
OCF acting prison director Lyndal Miles said the Milburn prison was at capacity at present because of ''a higher than usual number of remand prisoners''.
''When prison capacity is reached, Corrections has overflow arrangements in place to utilise prison facilities across the country and, if necessary with NZ Police, to ensure prisoners are accommodated safely,'' she said.
''These are temporary measures only.''
A police spokesman said the issue had not negatively affected police and was part of an ongoing arrangement with the Department of Corrections.
''Police were prepared for their arrival and were resourced to accommodate them,'' he said.
A Corrections spokeswoman said beds at Corrections facilities around the country were struggling with capacity issues.
''Prisoner numbers are dependent on factors outside Corrections' control, including legislative changes, judicial decisions, policing trends and crime levels,'' she said.
''The current increase is due to more people being held in prison on remand than was forecast. Legislative changes have also meant prisoners serve more of their sentence in prison and there has been an increase in people serving longer sentences for more serious crimes.
''This is a national issue. While we have been able to manage muster pressure within our existing capacity by better optimising our use of prison accommodation through national oversight, deferring planned maintenance work and reconfiguring prison units, these initiatives are not sufficient to manage future increases.''
The latest statistics from Corrections showed there were 465 prisoners in OCF as at September 30, 2016. That is more than 11% higher than the corresponding time last year.
The prison population throughout New Zealand was up 9% during the same period, rising to 9798.
The spokeswoman said plans had already been made to increase capacity at Arohata Prison, Whanganui Prison, Hawke's Bay Regional Prison, Mt Eden Corrections Facility and Christchurch Men's Prison.
''This capacity ... will ensure approximately 10,800 beds available by December 2017,'' she said.
''In addition, the first beds to become available will be 80 at Northland Region Corrections Facility in April 2017.''
It was also recently announced that construction of a 1500-bed facility at Waikeria Prison would begin in 2018. It would be operational by 2020 and completed by 2021.
