• Prisons Dept. yet to provide cost estimates
• Prisoner population doubles from 2021 to 2023
• New Watareka Prison project shelved

The Prisons Department is yet to calculate the costs for the new prisons to be constructed in the Western and Southern Provinces to solve the current space issues in already-established prison complexes, The Sunday Morning learns.

Prisons Department Media Spokesman G. Dissanayaka told The Sunday Morning that discussions were currently underway to open two new prisons.

According to the statistics available with the Ministry of Justice, the number of prisoners has doubled during the past two years, from nearly 16,000 in 2021 to almost 32,000 by the end of last year.

Simultaneously, plans to construct a new prison complex in Watareka have been shelved, Dissanayaka said.

“We have submitted a report to the Ministry of Justice and Prison Affairs, stating that there is a need to construct new prisons due to overcrowding. We are considering the Western and Southern Provinces for these two new complexes,” he added.

Efforts to find space for prisoners given the severe overcrowding come in the backdrop of the ongoing ‘Yukthiya’ operation commenced by the Police last month. 

As of Friday (26), the Prisons Department notes that a total of 32,177 convicted and unconvicted prisoners are in custody – nearly three times the total capacity of prisons in the country.

In 2020, after inmates at the Welikada Prison informed former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa of the lack of space, he issued directives to construct a new prison in Watareka, which already houses an open-air prison camp and Suneetha Vidyalaya. However, Dissanayaka clarified that the new prison had not been constructed there and that it had only been a “plan”.

Meanwhile, in 2021, plans were announced to relocate the Welikada Prison to a new complex in Horana. Although this new complex was initially set to be completed by this year, Dissanayaka said that it too had been halted due to a lack of funds. 

“It will be able to house 11,000 inmates while Welikada can only hold 7,000.” 

He further stated that estimated costs for the complex in Horana would now have to be revised.