The Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara, Attorney-at-Law - Minister of Justice and National Integration
The Minister provided figures on the approved cadre, current strength, and vacancies for male and female Prison Guards, noting 729 male and 117 female vacancies. He said recruitment is underway through a competitive examination, internal recruitment from the Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force to the Prisons Emergency Response Tactical Unit, and limited competitive recruitment from junior departmental employees. He also stated that Cabinet-approved increases to allowances, expanded overtime eligibility, uniform provision, and training programmes have been introduced to address staffing pressures and improve prison service capacity.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the answer is as follows:
¶ 02 (a) (i) Approved cadre: - Prison Guards (Male): 4,447 - Prison Guards (Female): 594
¶ 03 (ii) In service: - Prison Guards (Male): 3,718 - Prison Guards (Female): 477
¶ 04 (iii) Vacancies: - Prison Guards (Male): 729 - Prison Guards (Female): 117
¶ 05 (iv) To fill vacancies: A competitive examination was held by the Commissioner General of Examinations to recruit 347 Prison Guard officers (300 male, 47 female). Interviews were conducted as per the approved procedure, and 142 successful candidates were sent for a three-month basic guard training with effect from 2025.01.20. To fill the remaining 205 vacancies out of the approved 347, a request has been sent to the Commissioner General of Examinations to provide the next set of candidates in order of merit.
¶ 06 Further, pursuant to a Cabinet decision, applications were called through internal communications to recruit 472 members (417 male, 55 female) from the Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force to the Prisons Emergency Response Tactical Unit. Thirty applications were received, and after scrutiny and interviews, suitable candidates will be recruited during 2025.
¶ 07 Additionally, steps are being taken to recruit from among Junior Employees of the Department on a limited competitive basis to the post of Prison Guard.
¶ 08 A Cabinet decision conveyed by the Cabinet Secretary (Ref. AMP/24/1080/614/046 dated 2024.06.25) increased the allowance of Rs. 2,750.00 paid to departmental officers to Rs. 13,000.00 with effect from 2024.07.01, as follows (per month): - Good Conduct Allowance: from Rs. 500 to Rs. 2,000 - Risk Allowance: from Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 8,000 - Health Protection Allowance: from Rs. 750 to Rs. 3,000 Total: from Rs. 2,750 to Rs. 13,000
¶ 09 Special Overtime Allowance is payable up to a maximum of 200 hours (from 175), and up to 240 hours with the approval of the Secretary to the Ministry.
¶ 10 Uniform items required for Prison Officers have been provided.
¶ 11 Though shortages of Prison Guards made duties in institutions difficult, new recruitments are underway to alleviate the situation.
¶ 12 Training and capacity development programmes are being conducted to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of officers.
¶ 13 (b) Not applicable.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Wednesday, 12 March 2025 ·No. 1744106534050382 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara, Attorney-at-Law - Minister of Justice and National Integration. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 12 March 2025. No. 1744106534050382. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/9418