India, July 17 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday directed all states and Union territories to formulate and notify, within three months, a comprehensive policy for early or premature release of prisoners who are terminally ill or of advanced age, holding that incarceration cannot be allowed to degenerate into "institutional neglect" incompatible with the Constitution. In a ruling aimed at infusing greater humanity into India's prison administration, a bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said the continued incarceration of terminally ill and elderly prisoners, in the absence of a structured and transparent mechanism for their release or care. htc...