Addressing media persons at Kalpetta in Wayanad district today, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said the decision was taken in the wake of the recent Supreme Court direction.
Though various jails in the state could lodge close to 6,217 convicts as many as 6,965 were accommodated, including 1,377 life convicts, he said.
Earlier, the government had decided to release those convicts but it was not executed due to the direction of the Supreme Court.