The government is spending £110m on creating more cells in existing prisons in England and Wales as part of its plans to tackle overcrowding.

The money, which will come from existing budgets, will be used to convert unused office space, laundry rooms and storage space into cells, the Ministry of Justice said.

Justice Secretary Alex Norris is due to give more details in the Commons later on changes to the early release scheme, which aims to free up space in prisons as they near maximum capacity.

He told the BBC prisoners being released early did not mean "freedom" for them and victims would have a say in restrictions placed on those criminals.

Norris told BBC Breakfast victims were being sent letters to inform them about criminals being released early and they would have be offered support from a victims' liaison officer.

He insisted offenders would face restrictions on their release, including tagging and bans on attending football games.

Victims' Commissioner Claire Waxman said thousands of victims wanted to know how these early releases would affect them, especially victims of domestic abuse or stalking.

Norris, who is also Lord Chancellor, said the government had delivered more than 3,200 prison places in two years.

He said he suspected the number of extra prison spaces created from freeing up existing space within prisons would be "landing somewhere in the middle" of 200 and 900.

Investment on prison spaces was announced as part of last year's spending review, which covers plans up to 2030. This included a £7bn capital investment to create 14,000 prison places by 2031. The £110m for more prison cells is not a new investment.

Chairman of the Prison Officers' Association, Mark Fairhurst, said: "You can create as much additional space as you like, and build as many new prisons as you like, but where are the staff coming from to supervise people? Nobody wants to be a prison officer anymore."

Norris told BBC Radio 4's Today programme staffing was at the heart of everything and retention critical.