Emergency amendments to the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act will allow the Corrective Services commissioner the ability to consider prisoners vulnerable to disease and posing a low risk to the community for a conditional release.

The move comes as testing for COVID-19 has been expanded to include people with symptoms in prisons, with prison facilities classified as a 'high-risk environment.'

The NSW communities and justice department said these measures were "only to be used to respond to the threat of COVID-19."

Correctional facilities across the state have been putting additional measures in place to prevent outbreaks of the coronavirus.

With the legislation passed this week, no inmates across NSW have yet been considered for early release, and it remains unclear whether any inmates at the Junee Correctional Centre would be considered should the facility face a coronavirus threat.

Serious offenders such as murderers and child sex offenders will not be considered for release under these measures.

Prisoners likely to be considered include elderly inmates and those nearing the end of their sentence considered to be at high risk of harm should they be infected.

Home detention, a pre-approved schedule of movements and electronic monitoring have been raised as potential parole conditions for released prisoners.

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