Task Force to review prison overcrowding

by Isuri Yasasmin Kaviratne

There are 8,246 remand prisoners in Sri Lanka awaiting conviction or release, Commissioner of Prisons Operations, Intelligence and Security, Thushara Upuldeniya said.

Since this is a high ratio for remand prisoners, a special task force consisting of representatives from the Ministry of Justice, Departments of Prisons and Police is reviewing the cases, to minimise overcrowding in prisons.

The ratio between remand prisoners and those convicted is 3:1, is high and it boils down to the fact as to whether the majority of those remanded are innocent and that the culprits escape.

Compared to Malaysia and Singapore, which have an average of daily remand prison percentage of 25 and 10, Upuldeniya said, Sri Lanka has an average of 47% daily.

“According to 2015 statistics, most of those incarcerated are drug offenders, which is not considered a crime.” He said 46% of the convictions were for narcotic offences and 5% were for being drunk in public places.

Of all convictions, only 38% have been for other crimes.