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The Prisons Department has too many jailbirds, not enough jail guards
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Welikada prison
Overcrowding of prisons and staff shortages in jails are among the key issues faced by the Prisons Department, the Parliament was told this week.
Prisons across the country are overcrowded by more than 20,000 beyond the capacity while the department is short of nearly 850 male and female jail guards, Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara told Parliament.
He was responding to a question raised by SJB MP Kins Nelson.
The Minister disclosed that though the approved cadre of mail jail guards were 4,447 there were only 3,718 and thereby there is a shortage of 729 male guards.
The female guards’ approved cadre is 594 but there is a shortage of 117 guards.
The Minister said that sufficient allocations had not been made to address the issue in the past two years, but this year redress has been made.
He said that there are facilities only to accommodate 10,400 prisoners but currently there are more than 30,000 inmates, of which 19,000 are in remand prison custody.
The Minister said that several measures are being taken to recruit jail guards while Army volunteers too are to be enlisted as guards for the rapid response team during the year.
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