diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-01-20-20-13-35.gh-issue-144067.5YEhzs.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-01-20-20-13-35.gh-issue-144067.5YEhzs.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..3964f0c7f7b002
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-01-20-20-13-35.gh-issue-144067.5YEhzs.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Fix a memory leak in the curses module when setupterm() is called before
+initscr(), where the previously allocated terminal state was not freed.
diff --git a/Modules/_cursesmodule.c b/Modules/_cursesmodule.c
index 61464348d6fab8..cef2ece3832225 100644
--- a/Modules/_cursesmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/_cursesmodule.c
@@ -3731,7 +3731,10 @@ _curses_initscr_impl(PyObject *module)
         }
         return PyCursesWindow_New(state, stdscr, NULL, NULL);
     }
-
+    if (cur_term != NULL) {
+        del_curterm(cur_term);
+        cur_term = NULL;
+    }
     win = initscr();
 
     if (win == NULL) {