UK plans to release prisoners early to tackle overcrowding

Britain's new government plans to temporarily release some prisoners earlier in their sentence to tackle overcrowding in prisons, justice minister Shabana Mahmood said on Friday.

The change, which will come into force in September, will see some prisoners released 40% of the way through their sentence, a reduction from the current 50%, the government said.

Sentences for serious violent offences of four years or more and sex offences will be automatically excluded from the change, as will the early release of offenders in prison for domestic abuse connected crimes, it added.