[custom_adv] Dubai's main prison has released hundreds of inmates serving sentences for minor crimes as part of efforts to reduce the population. [custom_adv] The move has seen prisoner numbers at Dubai Central Prison fall by up to 35 per cent in recent weeks. [custom_adv] Hundreds are pardoned by the country's rulers for Ramadan every year, but the move was part of broader attempts to tackle protect inmates during the coronavirus outbreak, officials said. [custom_adv] "We received directives to release inmates and since the outbreak, there are 30 to 35 per cent fewer prisoners," Brig Ali Al Shamali, director general of correctional institutions, told AFP during a tour of Al Aweer. [custom_adv] "We want to reduce the number on a daily basis, especially release those with simple cases, not ones accused of big crimes." [custom_adv] He declined to say what the total prison population was this year, but officials have previously said the jail can hold about 4,000 inmates. [custom_adv] For Ramadan, President Sheikh Khalifa pardoned 1,511 inmates on April 21 and a further 1,899 were released by the Rulers of Dubai, Sharjah, RAK and Fujairah the following day. More prisoners were released for Eid on Sunday. [custom_adv] Those pardoned have the chance to return to their families or their home countries, depending on the terms of their release. [custom_adv] Behind a sound-proof glass door, an inmate speaks with someone on a computer screen after visits to the Dubai prison were suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic. [custom_adv] In another room of the same compound, about 35 kilometres from the city centre, another inmate appeared for a virtual court hearing, while a third was questioned by a prosecutor online.