The whole country started talking about prison officials with the recent incident at Mahara Prison. It was these prison officials who were charged with killing and injuring prisoners.
But prisoners as well as prison officials are the ones who get depressed because of their jobs. Those who get a job in the Department of Prisons through a competitive examination should be given regular training and promotions.
However, due to the lack of a service minute for the Department of Prisons, none of these activities have been carried out systematically for some time. Their problems have been around for a long time.
The reports said that the prison officer who deals with different types of inmates should be encouraged and given proper training, but they did not work.
Therefore, as a result of a discussion held by the Prisons Senior Officers’ Association, the present Commissioner General of Prisons has prepared a new service minute for prison officers.
It was handed over to Lohan Ratwatte, Minister of State for Prison Management and Prison Rehabilitation at the Ministry Auditorium yesterday (04).
Minister of State Lohan Ratwatte stated that the necessary steps will be taken to transform the prison service into a correctional service.
He also hopes to bring back the four-year review and reduce the number of inmates on death row to life imprisonment and up to 20 years in prison to reduce congestion in prisons.
He said that since he took office on November 2, nearly 10,000 prisoners and suspects have been released.
He also says that it will be implemented after considering the factors required to transform the prison service into a correctional service.
He said that due to the shortage of prison officers, it is difficult to control the inmates in prisons and there is a shortage of 1400 officers at present and therefore the Police Special Task Force is being deployed to provide security.