About 800 prisoners in England and Wales are being freed after the European Court of Human Rights ruled they were unlawfully given extended sentences, officials said on Saturday.
The releases have raised concerns that the Prison Service could face multi-million pound compensation claims from inmates held beyond their release date after their sentences were increased for bad behavior inside.
The European Court ruled on July 15 that it was illegal for prison governors, who hold disciplinary hearings with inmates, to also decide their punishment, on the grounds that the governors could not be independent or impartial.
"We don't agree with that judgment, but we respect it and we are complying," a spokeswoman for the Prison Service said. She said many inmates had already been released, while higher-risk prisoners would be released within the next five days once plans for their supervision were drawn up.
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