Around 10000 more will be released shortly, they said.
In a bid to decongest state jails due to coronavirusoutbreak, the state prisons department has so far releasedover 7,200 prisoners across the state on either temporary bailor parole, an official said.
Following the Supreme Court directives to states andUnion territories to set up a panel to consider the release ofprisoners on parole to avoid overcrowding in jails to checkthe spread of coronavirus, the state government had said thataround 11,000 prisoners in Maharashtra, whose sentence periodis less than seven years, would be released temporarily.
"The pre-lockdown population in the 60 prisons acrossthe state was over 35000 and so far we have released over7200inmates temporarily to decongest the jails," an officialfrom the prisons department told .
In all, around 17000 jail inmates would be released ontemporary bail or parole, he said.
A high-powered committee appointed by the stategovernment recently decided to release 50 per cent prisonersfrom various jails across the states and this figure is around17000, he said.
The committee's decision came after over 100 inmatesand staff of central Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail tested positivefor COVID-19.
The pre-lockdown population of Arthur Road Jail was2300, of which around 700 prisoners were released, he said.There are 1572 inmates in the jail now, he added. SPK VTVT VT