diff --git a/java/c/src/main/java/org/apache/arrow/c/ArrowSchema.java b/java/c/src/main/java/org/apache/arrow/c/ArrowSchema.java
index 06e401627ef01..ad9f16ae9ceed 100644
--- a/java/c/src/main/java/org/apache/arrow/c/ArrowSchema.java
+++ b/java/c/src/main/java/org/apache/arrow/c/ArrowSchema.java
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
  */
 public class ArrowSchema implements BaseStruct {
   private static final int SIZE_OF = 72;
+  private static final int INDEX_RELEASE_CALLBACK = 56;
 
   private ArrowBuf data;
 
@@ -103,7 +104,9 @@ public static ArrowSchema wrap(long memoryAddress) {
    * @return A new ArrowSchema instance
    */
   public static ArrowSchema allocateNew(BufferAllocator allocator) {
-    return new ArrowSchema(allocator.buffer(ArrowSchema.SIZE_OF));
+    ArrowSchema schema = new ArrowSchema(allocator.buffer(ArrowSchema.SIZE_OF));
+    schema.markReleased();
+    return schema;
   }
 
   ArrowSchema(ArrowBuf data) {
@@ -111,6 +114,11 @@ public static ArrowSchema allocateNew(BufferAllocator allocator) {
     this.data = data;
   }
 
+  /** Mark the schema as released. */
+  public void markReleased() {
+    directBuffer().putLong(INDEX_RELEASE_CALLBACK, NULL);
+  }
+
   @Override
   public long memoryAddress() {
     checkNotNull(data, "ArrowSchema is already closed");
diff --git a/java/c/src/test/java/org/apache/arrow/c/ArrowArrayUtilityTest.java b/java/c/src/test/java/org/apache/arrow/c/ArrowArrayUtilityTest.java
index 1d4cb411fab45..511358a5e62fa 100644
--- a/java/c/src/test/java/org/apache/arrow/c/ArrowArrayUtilityTest.java
+++ b/java/c/src/test/java/org/apache/arrow/c/ArrowArrayUtilityTest.java
@@ -50,6 +50,13 @@ void afterEach() {
     allocator.close();
   }
 
+  @Test
+  void arraySchemaInit() {
+    ArrowSchema schema = ArrowSchema.allocateNew(allocator);
+    assertThat(schema.snapshot().release).isEqualTo(0);
+    schema.close();
+  }
+
   // ------------------------------------------------------------
   // BufferImportTypeVisitor