The Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara, Attorney-at-Law - Minister of Justice and National Integration

¶ 01 Hon. Member, you are correct; there is overcrowding. We are pursuing several measures:

¶ 02 - Expanding capacity by increasing accommodation in existing buildings and adding new sections rapidly. - Securing several State-owned buildings with adequate land to be repurposed, since constructing anew would take too long. We have already taken over a few locations similar to the “56763” Hospital premises. - A major cause of remand populations is delays in Government Analyst’s (GA) reports. Delays are due to staff shortages. We are in the process of recruiting the full cadre. Within a few months, we expect quicker GA reports, enabling bail applications sooner. - The Department of Community Based Corrections diverted about 16,000–17,000 offenders last year to community-based rehabilitation instead of incarceration, and we plan to increase that capacity this year. - We also intend to amend the law which currently requires certain drug cases to seek bail only from the Court of Appeal; enabling High Courts to grant bail will ease remand congestion.