In November 2020, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka published a report on their prison studies.
This study conducted over a long period of time of two years was based on interviews with relevant persons. This included prisoners, prison guards, and all officers and persons connected with the work of prisons.
This Study is excellent documentation of the actual conditions prevailing in the prisons in Sri Lanka in 2020. It gives details of issues on the conditions in the prisons that require a close study by the Government and Civil Society. The facts revealed show not only conditions in the prisons but also conditions in the criminal justice administration of Sri Lanka to be examined. This study could be one that contributes to a rich discourse on many of the unexplained problems, regarding failures of the Criminal Justice System in Sri Lanka.
In separate parts, the report deals with treatment and conditions, the rehabilitation process, special categories of prisoners, prison management, the criminal justice process, the continuum of violence, alternatives to incarceration, follow up, and conclusions.
Realizing the importance of this report, which is at the moment only available in English, the Asian Human Rights Commission has arranged for the first 35 pages of the report (total 89 pages) to be translated into Sinhala and Tamil. These pages will give a comprehensive summary of the conditions described above.
You can find the original English version, the Sinhala and the Tamil translations of pages 1-35 of the report in the links given below.
Link to an English version
Link to the Sinhala translation
Link to the Tamil translation
