Correction Dept eases congestion

Disna Mudalige

The Community Based Correction Department established recently has proved to be a successful and productive solution for congestion in prisons, Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms Minister D.E.W. Gunasekera told the Daily News.

Last year 19,642 convicted prisoners were handed over to this department without sending them to the jail as a new experiment. Under this department, prisoners are allowed to stay at home, while performing some duties for the community such as cleaning public places.

These prisoners are convicted for petty offenses, and their sentence period is less than two years.

“The over crowdedness in prisons is the major complaint made by the public and officials. In 2008, 33,000 convicted prisoners had been taken for direct admission,” he said. “This program has proved to be successful and productive.

Only 10 percent of these prisoners are found to be re convicted, whereas this percentage for prisoners who stay at the jail are very high. If we had sent them to jail, it would have cost the government a huge amount of money,” he said.

The minister suggested to increase the number of prisoners taken to this department to at least 25,000. “Under this new system, prisoners are comfortable since they stay at home, they also contribute the community by providing labour, and the government can also save money,” the Minister said.