London, Aug 19 (IANS) Mark Chapman, who was jailed in 1981 for the murder of John Lennon, is up for parole for the seventh time and may be released, a media report said.

The 57-year-old inmate at the Wende Correctional Facility will be interviewed by members of the parole board soon, and the board would make a decision on whether to release the murderer by Friday, the Daily Mail reported.

Chapman shot Lennon in December 1980 outside a Manhattan building where the 40-year old former Beatle lived.

The killer was sentenced in 1981 to 20 years to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to murder.

He was transferred in May from the Attica Correctional Facility in New York to the Wende Correctional Facility. Both are maximum security prisons.

Chapman was denied parole in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008.

He was last up for parole in 2010, but was denied because his discretionary release remains inappropriate at this time and incompatible with the welfare of the community, said the New York State Division of Parole.

Chapman is currently being held in protective custody in a single-person cell and is allowed out for three hours each day.

In 2010, Chapman said he killed the musician because he wanted instant notoriety.

I made a horrible decision to end another human being's life, for reasons of selfishness, and that was my decision at that time. I felt that by killing John Lennon, I would become somebody, and instead of that I became a murderer and murderers are not somebodies, he said.

Lennon's widow Yoko Ono has submitted a letter requesting that parole be denied.