All life convicts who have served more than 10 years of their sentence in jail and those who have been out on parole without police escort at least thrice and returned on their own with no adverin se report will get a 15-day special parole to reduce the risk of spread of the coronavirus in jails, sources in the state correctional home services said.

Over 21,000 inmates, including under-trial prisoners and convicts, are lodged in the state’s 56 correctional homes at present. Life convicts are kept in central correctional homes.

“Around 400 life convicts in the state would be eligible for this special parole,” sources said.

“In view of combat with the coronavirus, there is need to lessen overcrowding in correctional homes of West Bengal. So it is being considered that 15 days special parole will be granted to life convicts who have completed more than 10 years of serving sentences and the convicts who have availed parole without police escort more than three times and returned back to the Correctional Homes in due time and have no adverse report pending against them or punished for hail offences or any case of use of mobile/contraband articles,” a directive issued by the department on Thursday said.

Jails in Bengal are crammed with inmates many times beyond their capacity, sources said.

Given the current situation, the priority was to maintain good hygiene among inmates and jail officials and avoid any gathering, a senior official said.

Earlier this week, the correctional services department had cancelled physical appearance of inmates in courts and opted for video-conference instead to reduce exposure of the inmates to large gatherings in court.

All correctional homes across the state have been instructed to closely monitor the health conditions of the inmates and report to the health authorities in case of the slightest suspicion, another official said.

“Anyone showing the slightest of symptoms in jail has to be kept in an isolation cell. We are discouraging socialising and ensuring that the inmates maintain social distance, especially during interviews,” an official said.

Records are being maintained of foreigners who have recently been jailed and their ravel history in the past few weeks is being checked.