Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering the early release of more than 20,000 low-risk prison inmates from the nation’s largest prison system as a way to save money amid a worsening budget crisis, according to a local newspaper on Thursday.

Only prisoners who have less than 20 months left on their terms and considered nonviolent numbers among the ones who will benefit from the governor’s decision, The Sacramento Bee reported on its Web site. Sex offenders will not be eligible for release under the proposal.

The governor’s office told the Associated Press that Schwarzenegger had taken this measure as the state seeks to cope with a budget deficit estimated at $10 billion to $14 billion over the next two fiscal years.

Schwarzenegger has not decided what budget proposals he will deliver to the Legislature next month, said Adam Mendelsohn, Schwarzenegger spokersperson. Schwarzenegger had ordered state agencies to make 10 percent cuts “but has not made final decisions on what those 10 perent cuts will be,” he said, according to the AP.

The state confronts also with federal court pressure to relieve severe overcrowding, which has been blamed for serious problems in the prison system’s health care delivery and mental health services.

The governor’s proposal would cut the prison population by 22,159 inmates and save the state $256 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1. Savings are estimated at $780 million by 2010. Moreover, the proposal cuts more than 4,000 prison jobs, most of them belonging to guards.

This decision comes after in July, Schwarzenegger stated that he would not release any prisoners early despite severe overcrowding and the threat that federal judges would put limit the inmate population.

Ryan Sherman, a representative for the state prison guards union, said the union had not seen the proposal and would not comment on the report.

David Runnels, undersecretary for operations for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation refused commenting on the budget proposal.