Brazil will offer inmates in its crowded federal penitentiary system a novel way to shorten their sentences: four days less for every book they read.

Inmates in four federal prisons holding some of Brazil's most notorious criminals will be able to read up to 12 works of literature, philosophy, science or classics to trim a maximum 48 days off their sentence each year, the government announced.

Prisoners will have up to four weeks to read each book and write an essay which must "make correct use of paragraphs, be free of corrections, use margins and legible joined-up writing," said the notice published on Monday in the official gazette.

A special panel will decide which inmates are eligible to participate in the program dubbed "Redemption through Reading".

"A person can leave prison more enlightened and with a enlarged vision of the world," said Sao Paulo lawyer Andre Kehdi, who heads a book donation project for prisons. "Without doubt they will leave a better person," he said.

【新闻快讯】

据路透社6月25日报道，为了缓解监狱系统拥挤现状，巴西当局出台了帮助囚犯缩减刑期的新方式，即读书减刑，每读一本书可减刑4天。

巴西政府宣称，被关押在巴西四所联邦监狱中的囚犯可以通过读文学名著、哲学、科学或经典书籍减刑。每年最多可读12本书，每本书可减刑4天，一年最多可减刑48天。囚犯每本书最多可读四周，并根据所读书籍写下一篇文章，文章要求正确使用段落，清晰连贯。

一个特别委员会将决定哪些囚犯具备参加这一名为“通过阅读救赎”计划的资格。向巴西监狱捐书的圣保罗律师安德烈·科赫迪说：“一个人可以带着更卓绝的见识、更宽广的视野离开监狱。无疑，他们将变成更好的人。”