The Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara, Attorney-at-Law - Minister of Justice and National Integration
The Minister stated that Sri Lanka’s prisons have capacity for about 10,700 inmates but currently hold around 30,000, including approximately 19,000 remand prisoners, creating overcrowding problems in Polonnaruwa, Colombo, and elsewhere. He said funds have been allocated this year to address sewerage issues, including in Polonnaruwa, after no allocations in the previous two years, but emphasized that infrastructure measures alone are insufficient. He added that a committee appointed three months earlier is working to reduce the remand population and that the Ministry intends to act expeditiously.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Thank you for raising this important issue. System-wide, capacity is about 10,700, but around 30,000 inmates are currently held; approximately 19,000 are on remand. The problem you cite exists not only in Polonnaruwa but also in Colombo and elsewhere. No allocations were made over the last two years for such issues; this year funds have been set aside to address sewerage issues, including Polonnaruwa. However, that alone is insufficient. I have appointed a committee about three months ago specifically to reduce the remand population, as sentenced prisoners are less of a capacity issue. We will act expeditiously.
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/9422