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| Sunday, 7 September 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Free a prisoner and gain merit? by Jayanthi Liyanage Do you know that for not having Rs. 200, a person who has been charged with a fine for a petty offence, could languish in remand prison for a couple of months?
This was revealed by Rumy Marzook, the new Commissioner General of Prisons, who after assuming office recently, is determined to achieve positive changes in many an aspect of the life of prisoners serving their term in a large number of prisons. "A person found guilty of petty offences, such as possessing 'kasippu', illicit arrack, a 'ganja mitiya' or small amounts of heroin, could be imposed with a fine ranging from about Rs.200 to about Rs.2,500. If he has the money to pay the fine, he can pay and go back to his society as a free man. But, if he is unable to pay the fine, he has to languish in the remand prison in the company of hard-core criminals and could end up becoming a worse criminal when he is finally released from the prison." Citing a recent incident Commissioner General Marzook spoke of a man aged 32, who had just concluded serving a three-and-a-half year prison sentence for theft. Besides imprisonment, his conviction had also carried a fine of Rs.3,000 which he could not pay due to extreme poverty. "He would have had to serve an imprisonment term of another three-and-a-half years for defaulting the fine, if I did not step in and paid the fine," the Commissioner General said. "Now that he is a free man, I am trying to find him a job." Commissioner General Marzook, who began his career as an Attorney-at-Law in 1999, working under Faisz Mustapha, President's Counsel and Sri Lanka's High Commissioner in the UK, has come up with some novel proposals to ease the congestion created by such arrivals in prison, and to prevent unduly long tenures in prison being thrust on a convict who deserves to be spared of such anguish. The Sunday Observer spoke to Mr. Marzook on his new proposals. Q: How would you set about tackling the problem of overcrowding prisons?
I have a lot of people in the prisons today who are unable to furnish government sureties and pay large amounts of cash bail. As a result, the prison population is increasing. Currently, I have about 19,000 prisoners of whom 8,000-9,000 are convicts. The majority are suspects. In Welikada, we have 413 women prisoners of whom only 113 are convicts. The government spends about Rs. 300 Million a year and we spend about Rs. 200 a day on feeding each prisoner. We spend about Rs. 1.2 million a year to feed the entire prisoner population. Q: Is it correct that you wish to get the public to financially assist in providing bail for the suspects? A: It is not exactly that. In petty offences such as possessing a bottle or half a bottle of kasippu, a magistrates imposes a fine which could be in the range of Rs. 1,000 to 1,500. The judge has not told him that he would be remanded. Remanding, when it is handed out, is mandatory. If the convicted person defaults paying the fine, he would be given a prison sentence. Such a person languishes in the prisons not because of the judgement he received, but because he did not have the money to pay the fine. I have paid such fines personally and I have had well-wishers calling to inquire whether they could also get involved in such meritorious acts. I have asked the interested public to come forward. I could get them a list of prisoners unable to pay the fine imposed for petty offences. If a person is being convicted by a magistrate for theft or robbery, nothing can be done and they have run through the mandatory sentence. But there are instances where the prisoner has been given two years, and at the end of two years, the magistrate has stated that the prisoner has also been given a fine of Rs. 5,000. If the prisoner defaults the fine, he has to run another six months sentence in prison. Those fines could also be picked up by the well-wishers. We have to look at this in a very clear perspective. Such convicts are languishing in remand only because they cannot pay the fine. The magistrate has not ordered that the convict be remanded for several months. Only if the convict does not pay the fine that a sentence will follow. If he is unable to pay and is put into the prison, he mixes with the other serious criminals inside the prisons. By the time he is released, he would become a worse criminal. My intention is to pay that fine and give him his freedom. The convict can pay the fine at any time and get his freedom. The government spends about Rs. 3,600 per month in maintaining a prisoner. If a person languishes in remand for only the default of a payment of about Rs. 1,500, releasing him is better than spending Rs. 3,600 per month. Q: What is the maximum amount a well-wisher could pay? A: If there are people who volunteer to come forward and pay, the list could be obtained from our Superintendents. The Kasippu fines are not big amounts. We are not asking the public to pay fines of Rs.100,000. These are small fines of about Rs.500, 1,000, 2,000 or 3,000. It is better to pay such fines and release the prisoner to save his upkeep for a more deserving criminal convicted by a Court of Law coming into the prison. With the prisoner population increasing, the limited prison space is congested and we are confronted with a lot of resultant issues. People nabbed with small amounts of heroin too are remanded and the charge is about Rs. 2,500. If he does not pay the fine, he runs a sentence. He is kept in the remand with other criminals. I cannot send him to a rehabilitation camp because these are for drug addicts who must go through a rehabilitation process. Q: How many such people are in prisons? A: I can't give exact statistics immediately because there are so many prisons in the country. Q: In addition to paying fines, would you invite the public to also assist, if they wish, in the rehabilitation of the released prisoner? A: Yes, we would welcome that. The fine aspect comes in the petty offences imposed with Rs. 1,000 and so on. The Prisons Reforms Committee has suggested that these petty fines be paid by the Prisons Welfare funds. Such activities are done on a very small scale and if the public is interested, they could get in touch with us and we could give them the list of people in prisons for defaulting fines. The public is also welcome to go beyond paying such fines and support the released prisoners by giving them employment and other assistance to put them back on their feet. Inside the prison, rehabilitation is provided only for the drug addicts. Drug addicts are sentenced for two years and sent to rehabilitation camps such as those in Boossa and Pallekelle. Young offenders are sent to Pallansena. Once the magistrate convicts the addicts, they directly go to the rehabilitation camp and go through the rehabilitation course. Apart from this course, they are also trained in their skills. Under the Bail Act the magistrate has the power to release criminals on bail. If the magistrate finds that the investigations of the case have not been completed, he could order remanding the suspect. I have been a Magistrate in Wattala before coming here. If the Police comes and tells me that investigations are not complete and the accused needs to be remanded for a certain period, then I would order accordingly. Once the Police record is given, I could release him on bail. Bail will be given on condition - such as two sureties from the respective area. That is why I am requesting the magistrates that if the investigations of a case are complete, it is expeditious to give the accused bail and reduce the overcrowding of prisons. Q: Could you give us some information about the garment factory run within the Bogambara prison premises? A: In keeping with the government policy, the garment factory has been discontinued from manufacturing. But we are training the prisoners. We have the machinery with which the garments of the officers and the jumpers of the prisoners are being stitched. The moment a person is convicted by a Court of Law, he has to get into the normal attire required to be worn by a prisoner, according to the Prisons Ordinance. So the prisoners are being trained to stich this attire. Q: Why was the factory closed? A: There were several ramifications involved. We did not want to go on with it and our minister suggested that we discontinue the factory's manufacturing and trading activity. Q: Do you have plans to start such ventures for prisoners in future? A: We hope to. But such activities have to be approved by the ministry to avoid any possible confrontations. I have so many prisoners here and must give them something to do, or else, they become frustrated. I am also planning to show them some Hindi and Sinhala movies to keep them occupied. An idle mind is like a devil's workshop. The prisoners could conspire against us because they have nothing else to do. Throughout their time in prisons, we must keep them active. We give them sports and exercises and there is a huge amount of work which is going on in prisons. We also have plans to commence, with the help of NGOs, coaching prisoners in English, but would require sponsors to pay the teachers. Our vocational training programmes for the prisoners would include masonry, carpentry, cake-making, floristry and cookery. Currently, high quality bread is being made by the prisoners and is sold to customers. |
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A. After taking over the office as Commissioner General of Prisons, I
have discussed the matter with the magistrates. We had a conference for
them at Tangerine Beach Hotel to devise ways and means of implementing the
Bail Act wherever possible, in the prisoners' bail. I have also asked the
magistrates to be considerate when they impose bail conditions and refrain
from asking for large amounts of cash bail, and for the bail to be
consistent with the convicted person's means and also to avoid asking for
a government surety.
