NEW DELHI: Holding that a person cannot be denied the right to life and dignity upon conviction and that constitutional values are not suspended in prisons, SC Thursday directed states and UTs to formulate a policy within three months for release of prisoners who are of advanced age and/or are terminally ill.Justifying its intervention to come to the rescue of elderly and terminally ill prisoners languishing in jails, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said its directions were to ensure that the criminal justice system did not inflict needless suffering upon those whose vulnerability was manifest and irreversible.“This court reiterates that punishment must remain anchored in proportionality, humanity and the possibility of reform, and that incarceration cannot be permitted to degenerate into institutional neglect incompatible with the values of a constitutional democracy,” it said.As per data collated from various State Legal Services Authorities, a total of 5,393 prisoners have been identified as falling within the broad category of elderly and/or terminally ill inmates. It includes 1,886 undertrial prisoners and 3,507 convicts.“Guarantees of dignity, fairness, humane treatment continue to operate with full force even behind prison walls,where…vulnerability of individuals is at its highest,” the bench said.