BEIRUT: Lebanon’s government approved a draft law Thursday allowing prisoners to request a reduction in their sentence, part of the country’s prison reform plan.

The amendment to law 463, drafted by the Justice and Administration Parliamentary committee, applies to all prisoners except for those who have committed crimes against state security or public money, forgery or drug trafficking.

A prison committee will be created to investigate prisoners’ requests for sentence reduction.

The amendments are part of Lebanon’s prison reform plan which was launched after a riot broke out in April at the country’s biggest prison, Roumieh, over deteriorating prison conditions. Inmates demanded general amnesty and a reduction in prison sentences.

Parliament has approved the establishment of prisons in the south and the north to reduce overcrowding in prisons elsewhere. Roumieh was originally built to house 1,500 people, and currently holds over 3,000.

Parliamentarians did not, however, pass a draft law which would have seen each year of prisoners’ sentences reduced to nine months.

Activists are also asking the government to consider a law that would define the time that suspects can be detained before they are charged. Currently, a suspect can remain in so-called precautionary detention until legal measures are taken to either release or convict them. Activists have also demanded that the judicial process be generally expedited.