SC orders release of prisoners to decongest jails

New Delhi: Taking note of the "unprecedented surge" in COVID-19 cases, the Supreme Court on Saturday moved to decongest prisons and ordered the immediate release of prisoners who were granted bail or parole last year.

Observing that the decongestion of prisons housing around 4 lakh inmates across the country is a matter concerning "health and right to life of" prisoners and police personnel, a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said all those who were allowed to go out on bail in March last year by the high-powered committees of states and Union Territories (UTs) be granted the same relief without any reconsideration to avoid delay.

"Further we direct that those inmates who were granted parole, pursuant to our earlier orders, should be again granted parole for a period of 90 days in order to tide over the pandemic," the bench, also having Justices L Nageswara Rao and Surya Kant, said in its order uploaded on the apex court's website on Saturday.

There is a serious concern about the spread of COVID- 19 in "overcrowded prisons where there is lack of proper sanitation, hygiene and medical facilities , the bench said, adding there is a requirement for effective management of pandemic from within the prison walls so as to defeat this deadly virus.