Cuba on Thursday said ​it would free more than 2,000 prisoners from the ‌island's jails, according to state-run media, the second time this year its communist-run government has announced a prisoner amnesty amid talks with the administration of ​U.S. President Donald Trump.

Cuba's state-run Granma newspaper called the ​measure a "humanitarian and sovereign gesture."

The decision to release 2,010 ⁠prisoners "stemmed from a careful analysis of the crimes committed by those ​convicted, their good conduct in prison, the fact that they had ​served a significant portion of their sentence, and their state of health," the report in Granma said.

The Cuban government has consistently rejected any suggestion it ​makes decisions under U.S. pressure. The timing of Thursday's announcement, ​however, coincides with the most intense pressure campaign applied by Washington in decades.

The ‌U.S. ⁠State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the release.

The prisoner release, one of the largest such amnesties in recent years, comes one day after Cuba's top diplomat in ​Washington publicly invited ​the U.S. ⁠government to help overhaul Cuba's crippled economy as part of ongoing negotiations that have yet to yield ​results.

Cuba freed 51 prisoners in March under an ​agreement ⁠with the Vatican.

Human rights groups say the island's Communist government is holding hundreds of political prisoners, with estimates varying.

It was unclear how many ⁠of ​the more than 2,000 prisoners subject to ​the latest release have been held on common crimes or charges related to anti-government ​protests.