As concerns grow about coronavirus spreading behind bars, Ontario is making it easier to keep some inmates away from jail and let others out earlier.

Changes to provincial regulations will allow “senior corrections officials” to release inmates near the end of their sentences, and allow longer absences from jail for offenders serving intermittent sentences, the province announced Friday.

“To ensure public safety, inmates would be carefully assessed to ensure they are a low risk to re-offend. Those inmates who have been convicted of serious crimes, such as violent crimes or crimes involving guns, would not be considered for early release,” a statement released by Deputy Premier Christine Elliott and Solicitor General Sylvia Jones said.

The province earlier changed rules so that people serving intermittent sentences, usually on weekends, only had to report to a correctional centre each weekend.

The amendments announced Friday will allow senior corrections officials to let offenders serving intermittent sentences stop reporting on weekends.

That will stop “cycling individuals back and forth between the community and a correctional facility,” the statement says.

The province didn’t make clear who senior corrections officials are.

“As Ontario continues to act to slow the spread of COVID-19, we are making further changes to protect our frontline workers and our health care system from the burden an outbreak in our correctional system could cause,” the statement says.

The province earlier halted personal visits to inmates.

Correctional officers are calling for more help to stem the potential outbreak of the virus in institutions where even normal admission rates put men and women in close and closed quarters.

The province also announced Friday that Ontario Parole Board can conduct hearings by electronic or written meetings, rather than in person.