diff --git a/system/helpers/url_helper.php b/system/helpers/url_helper.php
index 6c3bc83..5be4330 100644
--- a/system/helpers/url_helper.php
+++ b/system/helpers/url_helper.php
@@ -528,11 +528,16 @@
 {
 	function redirect($uri = '', $method = 'location', $http_response_code = 302)
 	{
+		if ( ! preg_match('#^https?://#i', $uri))
+		{
+			$uri = site_url($uri);
+		}
+		
 		switch($method)
 		{
-			case 'refresh'	: header("Refresh:0;url=".site_url($uri));
+			case 'refresh'	: header("Refresh:0;url=".$uri);
 				break;
-			default			: header("Location: ".site_url($uri), TRUE, $http_response_code);
+			default			: header("Location: ".$uri, TRUE, $http_response_code);
 				break;
 		}
 		exit;
diff --git a/user_guide/changelog.html b/user_guide/changelog.html
index 7a26cb3..48f3567 100644
--- a/user_guide/changelog.html
+++ b/user_guide/changelog.html
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@
 			<li>Added a doctype() function to the <a href="helpers/html_helper.html">HTML helper</a>.</li>
 			<li>Added ability to force lowercase for <kbd>url_title()</kbd> in the <a href="helpers/url_helper.html">URL helper</a>.</li>
 			<li>Changed the default "type" of <kbd>form_button()</kbd> to "button" from "submit" in the <a href="helpers/form_helper.html">form helper</a>.</li>
+			<li>Changed redirect() in the URL helper to allow redirections to URLs outside of the CI site.</li>
 		</ul>
 	</li>
 	<li>Other Changes