UP removes age bar of 60 for prisoners to be considered for early release

Lucknow, Jun 11 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government has done away with the age bar of 60 years for inmates lodged in the state's prisons to avail a premature release, a senior official said on Saturday.

"A decision to this effect was taken 7-10 days ago. Earlier, the age restriction was of 60 years, and no prisoner could avail premature release before attaining the age of 60," Uttar Pradesh Director General (DG), Jails, Anand Kumar told PTI.

Elaborating on the amendment in the prison policy, Kumar said, "Later, it was thought that if any person commits a crime at the age of 25, then he will be in prison for 35 years before attaining the age of 60. There is no way such a person would improve or show any signs of reformation." Now, the government would consider releasing an inmate serving a life sentence after the completion of 16 years' imprisonment if no remission was granted during the period or after 20 years with remission, he said.

The DG did not specify how many inmates lodged in Uttar Pradesh prisons would benefit from this move.

"A lot of inmates will now have an opportunity. There is a ray of hope that if they complete 16 years of incarceration, then they will be eligible for premature release subject to good conduct in jail," he said.

As of now, there are around 1.20 lakh inmates lodged in 74 prisons in Uttar Pradesh, Kumar said. PTI NAV IJT