diff --git a/CXX/yapt.hh b/CXX/yapt.hh
index 0edd8d949..44f7b8b51 100644
--- a/CXX/yapt.hh
+++ b/CXX/yapt.hh
@@ -22,7 +22,10 @@ protected:
   void mk(Term t0); /// internal method to convert from term to handle
   Term gt();        /// get handle and obtain term
 public:
-  virtual ~YAPTerm(){};
+  virtual ~YAPTerm(){ LOCAL_HandleBase[t] = TermFreeTerm;
+    while (  LOCAL_HandleBase[LOCAL_CurSlot-1] == TermFreeTerm)
+      LOCAL_CurSlot--;
+   }
   YAPTerm(Term tn) {
     mk(tn);
   } /// private method to convert from Term (internal YAP representation) to
diff --git a/packages/python/python.c b/packages/python/python.c
index cdc8efe86..b86f075b3 100644
--- a/packages/python/python.c
+++ b/packages/python/python.c
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ X_API bool init_python(void) {
     // wait for YAP_Init
     return false;
   }
-  PyGILState_STATE gstate = PyGILState_Ensure();
+  //  PyGILState_STATE gstate = PyGILState_Ensure();
   term_t t = PL_new_term_ref();
   if (!Py_IsInitialized()) {
     python_in_python = true;
@@ -112,6 +112,6 @@ X_API bool init_python(void) {
   PL_reset_term_refs(t);
   install_pypreds();
   install_pl2pl();
-  PyGILState_Release(gstate);
+  //PyGILState_Release(gstate);
   return !python_in_python;
 }