diff --git a/src/mpsd_software_manager/mpsd_software.py b/src/mpsd_software_manager/mpsd_software.py
index 1ce3a2cb10a097482e8d4d56f246913e78880176..aec8052a75303e082756a04ca7ec87b333c7fbe7 100755
--- a/src/mpsd_software_manager/mpsd_software.py
+++ b/src/mpsd_software_manager/mpsd_software.py
@@ -803,7 +803,7 @@ def prepare_environment(mpsd_release: str, root_dir: Path) -> List[str]:
     else:
         repo_url = config_vars["spack_environments_repo"]
         logging.info(f"cloning repository {repo_path} from {repo_url}")
-        clone_repo(repo_path, repo_url, branch=mpsd_release)
+        clone_repo(repo_path, repo_url, branch=f"releases/{mpsd_release})
 
     logging.getLogger("print").info(
         f"Release {mpsd_release} is prepared in {release_base_dir}"