Drafting begins on house arrest provisions as government moves on prison overcrowding

Drafting of preliminary legal provisions to allow certain inmates to be placed under house arrest has begun, Justice and National Integration Minister Harshana Nanayakkara has said, describing the measure as a way to address prison overcrowding.

The minister was speaking about the state of the prison system following the weekend unrest at Mahara Prison.

He said steps have also been initiated to strengthen security across all prisons in the country, with the Ministry of Defence and the police providing the necessary support. Authorities are acting on intelligence received by the relevant agencies, he said.

Investigations so far indicate that the confrontation at Mahara Prison took place between inmates and the prison administration, according to the minister — a characterisation he has used to distinguish it from the Negombo Prison riot in July, which he has described as a clash between rival groups of inmates.

Forensic backlog targeted

Nanayakkara said a programme has been launched to increase the issuance of forensic and analytical reports, with a target of between 7,500 and 9,000 reports a month.

That target marks a sharp escalation. When the minister first set out the house arrest plan in late July, he put the Government Analyst’s Department’s expanded capacity at 1,500 to 2,000 reports a month.

Delays in obtaining those reports are one of the principal drivers of overcrowding, because they prolong the remand period of suspects awaiting trial. The minister has previously said that if the reports were issued more promptly, the remand population could be cut by close to half.

The scale of the problem

Sri Lanka’s prisons were built to hold 10,375 inmates and are currently holding roughly four times that number.

The pressure is concentrated in individual facilities. The Committee for the Protection of Prisoners’ Rights says Mahara Prison has an official capacity of 991 but was holding 4,447 inmates when the unrest broke out on Saturday, leaving one inmate dead and causing damage put at more than Rs. 150 million.

Source: NewsFirst.