5,000 prisoners likely to released from UP jails
After the Supreme Court directives to ease the strength of overcrowded jails, over 5,000 prisoners may be released from UP prisons on parole following coronavirus fear among them.
After the Supreme Court directives to ease the strength of overcrowded jails, over 5,000 prisoners may be released from UP prisons on parole following coronavirus fear among them, said senior prison officials.
At least 63 of the 72 jails across Uttar Pradesh are overcrowded, one of them by as much as 498% of the capacity, according to the data available on the website of the UP Prison Administration and Reform Services. The state has three special prisons, five central and two sub-jails, besides 62 district jails.
Director General (DG) of UP Prison Administration and Reform Services, Anand Kumar on Friday said a prison department committee was screening the list of prisoners in every jail as per the directives of Supreme Court. He said the committee was listing the prisoners lodged in jails for crime with less than seven years of jail term, after which they were likely to be released phase wise on parole. “The final decision on the exact number of prisoners to be released is yet to be taken,” he added.
Another senior prison official said at least 5,000 prisoners lodged for crime with less than seven years of jail term would be released in the first phase after making them fill personal bonds. He said this figure could swell as the committee would consider providing paroles to more inmates on the basis of seriousness of the offence committed by them as well as age and health.
He said the court had directed to consider providing parole of up to six weeks to inmates lodged in jails across the country for crime with less than seven years of jail term, following coronavirus fear.
According to the data shown at UP Prison Department and Reform Services website, the total capacity of the UP jails is 60,305 but around 10,0744 inmates are lodged in them. On an average, the extent of overcrowding in jails across the state is over 170%, according to the same data. The data suggested that only nine jails were not overcrowded.
The 11 most overcrowded jails of the state are the district jails of Moradabad, Jaunpur, Lalitpur, Saharanpur, Mathura, Jhansi, Varanasi, Badaun, Bhadohi’s Gyanpur jail, Shahjahanpur and Aligarh.