(COLOMBO) – The Sri Lankan Government is seriously pondering of introducing a house arrest system for minor offenders in a desperate bid to stem the overcrowding in the country’s jails State Minister of Justice and Prison Affairs Anuradha Jayaratne said.
There are some 27 jails throughout the country where the holding capacity is for around 35,000 inmates.
But at present this figure as trebled with the majority of the inmates being drug offenders held in remand prisons.
He said that relevant laws towards this end will be drafted at the very earliest and presented to Parliament to ease the congestion in the jails that are also operating with a limited staff.
State Minister Jayaratne further added that parallel to these measures, several Acts, including the Bail Act will also be amended.
