'I'm a UK prisoner Keir Starmer's let out six months early - I'll vote Labour forever'
Djaber Benallaoua, a convicted drug dealer, is one of many inmates released from prisons early to tackle overcrowding.
A convicted drug dealer freed from prison on Tuesday in the Government's controversial prisoner release scheme said it has turned him into a "lifelong Labour voter", according to reports.
Djaber Benallaoua, 20, was greeted by five friends this morning after he was let out of HMP Isis, a Category C young offenders institution in Thamesmead.
"I thank Labour. Because I've come out five or six months early than I was supposed to so I'm just happy," he told MailOnline.
Photos from showed prisoners beaming as they returned to the streets, some some being sprayed with sparkling wine like triumphant F1 drivers.
It's being done to free up space in the country's overcrowded prisons, and the government insists the "unthinkable" alternative would have led to a "total collapse of the criminal justice system".
Justifying the move, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "We inherited a prison system on the point of collapse.
"This is not a change we wanted to make - it was the only option left on the table because the alternative would have seen a total collapse of the criminal justice system."
Benallaoua (pictured) was let out six months earlier than planned after originally being handed a two-and-a-half-year sentence.
"It's a very good policy because it's given a lot of prisoners a lot of hope," he told the outlet.
"When prisoners found out they'd be released early they were very positive."
Asked what he's planning to do with his freedom, he said: "I'm just elated right now. I'm gonna get lit."
(Image: W8 Media)
A man and woman hug each other outside HMP Bristol as the release of over a thousand begins.
More than 5,000 are set to be released over the next six weeks, with only violent criminals jailed for more than four years ineligible to be let out.
A group of people walking out of HMP Liverpool this morning.
Charlie Taylor, HM Inspectorate of Prisons said the government was left with no choice but to okay early releases, as "the bath was in danger of overflowing, and they either had to turn the taps off or they had to let some water out".
A pair of men leave the gates at HMP Liverpool on Tuesday morning.
One man in a blue coat covers his face with the hood as he carries a black duffle bag.
(Image: PA)
John Price outside Nottingham Prison from where he was released this morning, four days early after being sentenced for a domestic-related incident.
A number of prisoners are being released after serving 40 percent of their sentence - rather than the standard 50 percent- due to a lack of space in prisons.
(Image: Tom Maddick / SWNS)