Coronavirus: West Bengal mulling release of life convicts on parole

The West Bengal jail department is mulling releasing life convicts on parole in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak. According to Additional Director General (ADG), Prisons, Arun Gupta, the department is pondering over the idea that whether life convicts who are "willing and can be sent", could be released on parole in the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak.

"Nothing has been decided so far. We are mulling if this can be done, as there are too many prisoners and there is a space constraint. "According to the rules of fighting this virus, there has to be enough space between persons living together," another senior jail department official said. There are around 60 prisons in West Bengal, housing around 25,000 inmates, of whom around 7,000 are convicts and the rest are undertrials.

"Of the 7,000, there are life convicts. We are talking to them in order to know who all are interested in availing parole. Then a final call will be taken on the prisoners who can be released on parole," the official said. According to Gupta, precautionary measures such as distribution of face masks among prisoners and jail employees have been taken.