Coronavirus outbreak: release of 1,413 convicts who served 20 years likely
Apart from over 3,000 petty criminals, the government is planning to release 1,413 inmates who were sentenced to life imprisonment and have already served more than 20 years in jail, amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
The aim of releasing around 5,000 prisoners is to lower the chances of coronavirus transmission in crowded jails, said sources.
The home ministry has already sent a proposal to the law ministry for its opinion.
Contacted, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said, "We have sent the recommendations to the law ministry. We will scrutinise everything after getting a response."
"We are thinking of releasing those who served more than 20 years in jail, but are stuck due to the new definition of life imprisonment given by the former chief justice Sinha. Besides we are thinking of releasing some disabled prisoners," the minister told The Daily Star today.
According to prison and home ministry sources, there are more than 5,000 prisoners, who have been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, in different jails.
Of them, 1,413 were named in the list for release as they have served more than 20 years in prison and there were no pending cases against them either; the ministry is planning on releasing them without condition, they added.
The release of many of them stopped after former Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha in a judgment in February said life imprisonment means jail sentence until natural death of the convict.
A review petition against the judgement is still pending.
A prison official said as per the home ministry's order, they sent on April 5, the list of prisoners who are being considered for release or bail are under three categories.
"There are more than 3,000 prisoners in the first category who were sentenced to two-year imprisonment or less but served in jail for months. The second category includes the 1,413 life-sentenced prisoners while there are 36 disabled prisoners under the third category," he told The Daily Star.
"We are also preparing a list of under trial prisoners who are in jail for years for different crimes except murder, terrorism and rape offences," said another prisons official.
A home ministry official said they are yet to decide whether the prisoners under first category will be exempted or released on bail. It will be decided as part of the law minister's response.
Public health specialists have expressed concern that many prisoners might contract coronavirus in the densely populated jails plagued by unhealthy and unhygienic living conditions.
Sources at the department of prisons said there are around 89,000 prisoners at 68 jails across the country, against a capacity of 41,244, posing a high risk of spread of coronavirus inside.