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A prison guard stands at the gate of San Quentin State Prison Dec. 12, 2005

Gov. Jerry Brown says he may ask federal judges for more time to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that requires California to reduce the number of inmates in state prisons by more 30,000.

The Supreme Court gave Brown two years to relieve the overcrowding, which it said had resulted in substandard medical care and "needless suffering and death."

But in comments to reporters Thusday, Brown said the Supreme Court's timeline unrealistic.

"It's going to take more than two years," the governor said, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Under the terms of the high court ruling, the Brown administration must submit a plan to a panel of three federal appeals court judges in San Francisco, outlining how it intends to dramaticallty cut the number of state prison inmates.

On Thursday, Brown said he's "looking at" the possibility of asking those judges for more time, a course available to him under the Supreme Court ruling.

Brown’s has proposed a "realignment" of California’s criminal justice programs, which would shift thousands of state prison inmates to county jails, while overhauling parole and probation policies with an eye on decreasing recidivism.

Brown's realignment plan, however, would reduce the state prison population to court-mandated levels over the course of five years.