PRISON OVERCROWDING: TASK FORCE TO FIND CAUSES, RECOMMEND SOLUTIONS

The Cabinet has appointed a Task Force to analyse reasons for prison overcrowding and to recommend measures to address it, officials said.

Cabinet granted approval for the appointment of the Task Force on Legal and Judicial Causes of Prisons Overcrowding on August 30.

Secretary to the Ministry of Prison Reforms V. Sivagnanasothy said the Task Force is to submit proposals, including amendments to existing laws and procedures to reduce prisons overcrowding to transform prisons into rehabilitation centres or correction centres. This Task Force is co-chaired by him and the Secretary to the Ministry of Justice .

In this regard, a joint Cabinet Memorandum was submitted by Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe and Minister of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs, D.m.swaminathan.

He said the Task Force comprises representatives from the Judicial Services Commission, the Attorney General’s Department, Department of Government Analyst, Department of Community Based Correction, the Department of Legal Draughtsmen, the Department of Police, Department of Prisons, Legal Aid Commission, representatives of Judges Training Institute and Ministry of Law and Order. The Task Force will be facilitated by the ICRC and would provide technical and logistic support on international best practices of the prison system and to formulate strategies for prison reforms.

Overcrowding in prisons affects not only the prisoners but also their families and communities at large. To minimize overcrowding in prisons, steps must be taken to reduce the current population in prison. A National Plan of Action to reduce overcrowding in prisons needed to be worked out by the Task Force with time lines, responsibilities, strategies and proposals which would then be submited for implementation.

More than 50 per cent of prisoners in Sri Lanka were serving time for drug related offences with a large number being repeat offenders.

Department of Prisons statistics indicates that there were over eighteen thousand inmates across all prisons in the country. Of this 8100 are convicted offenders and 8500 were remand prisoners. Given the fact that the bulk of the prisoners come from the poor uneducated families, they need to be trained before re-integration into society.

Hence, vocational training is important to ensure employment with marketable skills while counselling, spiritual education and psycho-socio orientation are vital to reduce repeated offenders. An unemployed ex-offender is more likely to become a repeat offender when compared to one who has acquired marketable skills, the study suggests.

The Task Force comprises representatives from the Judicial Services Commission, the Attorney General’s Department, Department of Government Analyst, Department of Community Based Correction, the Department of Legal Draughtsmen, the Department of Police, Department of Prisons, Legal Aid Commission, representatives of Judges Training Institute and Ministry of Law and Order