Sri Lanka’s prison population has surged to over 35,000, nearly three times the system’s intended capacity, with officials warning of an urgent need for reform.
Commissioner of Prisons and Media Spokesman Jagath Weerasinghe told reporters that the country’s prison infrastructure, designed to hold just 12,000 inmates, is now dangerously overcrowded.
A significant portion of the burden stems from drug-related offences, which account for nearly half of all incarcerations.
“The state is currently spending around Rs. 1,000 per inmate each day,” Weerasinghe said.
He stressed the need to rethink punitive approaches to drug use, advocating instead for rehabilitation over incarceration.
“The Department of Prisons has already initiated a rehabilitation programme,” he said, adding that scaling up such efforts could ease overcrowding while offering a more constructive response to drug dependency.
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