A complete of 1,021 jail inmates have died in the course of the previous 5 years, in response to a report submitted to Parliament by the Division of Prisons.
Of those that died, 552, or 54 per cent, had been remand prisoners, whereas 469 had been convicted prisoners.
Among the many inmates who died, 384 had been imprisoned for offences involving the possession or sale of crystal methamphetamine (ICE), heroin or different illicit medicine.
In the meantime, the report revealed that 15,117 suspects remained in jail as of the top of final yr attributable to delays in acquiring Authorities Analyst’s reviews.
1,431 stay in jail regardless of being granted bail
The report additionally acknowledged that 1,431 inmates remained in jail regardless of having been granted bail by the courts, attributable to causes together with their incapacity to fulfil bail circumstances, kinfolk failing to come back ahead to supply bail, and an absence of funds.
Of them, 325 had remained in jail for greater than 5 months after being granted bail.
The Authorities has in the meantime targeted consideration on the opportunity of lowering jail overcrowding by practically half by expediting Authorities Analyst’s reviews.
The Authorities can also be lowering the backlog of roughly 1.1 million circumstances presently pending earlier than the courts by accelerating the issuance of reviews by the Authorities Analyst’s Division.
The President has additionally held discussions with senior officers of the Authorities Analyst’s Division on bettering its effectivity by offering further amenities, together with human assets, with a view to expedite the issuance of reviews.
It was revealed in the course of the dialogue that one of many foremost causes of the present overcrowding in prisons is the delay in Authorities Analyst’s reviews regarding round 15,000 remand prisoners concerned in drug-related circumstances, which has prevented them from acquiring bail.
“Delays in issuing Authorities Analyst’s reviews have had a extreme affect on jail overcrowding. Though the prisons have the capability to accommodate 10,375 inmates, there are presently round 4 instances that quantity being held in prisons. This has resulted in varied issues arising amongst sure teams.
“The incident on the Negombo Jail is one such instance. By expediting Authorities Analyst’s reviews, we may scale back the variety of inmates in remand prisons by about half,” Justice Minister Legal professional-at-Regulation Harshana Nanayakkara stated whereas opening the brand new Pugoda Court docket Advanced on Friday (24).
