PRISONERS serving less than four months will be released early in a bid to ease overcrowding, the Scottish government has announced.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance told MSPs on Thursday that the release point for inmates will drop from 50 to 40 per cent of their sentence, an action expected to release between 260 and 390 prisoners.

The move mirrors similar actions by the British government and comes after the Scottish government’s emergency release of 500 prisoners earlier this year, but after a consultation long-term inmates will not be in scope.