Behind bars - no special treatment

by Ananda KANNANGARA

Inmates in remand prison will not be given preferential treatment under any circumstances and all remand prisoners are treated equally irrespective of their positions in society, Prisons Department Chief Major General V. R. De Silva said.

The Prisons Chief denied certain allegations made by certain people on remand prisoners and said that it was unethical for anybody to comment on prison matters without knowing the service provided to remand prisoners and convicted prisoners.

The Prisons Chief told the Sunday Observer that remand prisoners are not kept with other convicted prisoners and they are provided separate cells till they are convicted by the judiciary.

Responding to a question, Major General de Silva said that he had launched a program to crack down on drug smugglers and underworld gangs, currently now operative in some prisons.He said he would set up a special Intelligence and Security Division in the Prisons Department and the officers would be empowered to search not only the prison inmates, but also certain Prison Department officials including the jailers.

He said around 15,000 are serving jail sentences in countrywide prisons, while another 15,000 are in remand custody.