Sri Lanka
Seen in the press
Read our selection of press reports about this country.
Asia
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Sri Lanka
Minister of National Integration and Justice, Harshana Nanayakkara, announced that a new Act enabling selected incarcerated people to be placed under house arrest through electronic monitoring is being drafted to address severe prison overcrowding in the country.
Pre-trial detention
Women
Asia
Access to legal rights
Overcrowding
Death penalty
Sri Lanka
The emergency has been caused by a lack of adequate facilities and the extensive use of preventive detention pending trial. There are at least 40,000 people in prison on the island in facilities with a total capacity of only 10,500 places.
Asia
Drugs
Overcrowding
Death penalty
Sri Lanka
In response to the Prisons Commissioner’s remarks that drug traffickers sentenced to death should be hanged, the Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners (CPRP) criticised the statement, saying that executions are not the solution to Sri Lanka’s prison overcrowding.
Coronavirus
Asia
Protest
Overcrowding
Violence
Sri Lanka
Authorities must work to release hundreds of detainees to ease overcrowding.