(UTV | COLOMBO) – Bogambara is to be converted back into a prison as part of a solution to address overcrowding at prisons.
Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne said he was hoping to visit the abandoned Bogambara Prison in Kandy to look into the possibility of resuming its operations again to cater to the increasing number of prisoners.
He said this while addressing officials of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service at the Water’s Edge Hotel in Battaramulla.
The former Government had decided to convert the Bogambara Prison into a museum and cultural park in order to boost tourism in Kandy.
The Bogambara prison was built by the British in the 19th century and in 2013, the Government decided to close the prison complex. Serving inmates were transferred to a new prison complex in Pallekelle.
Gunaratne said that according to the Commissioner General of Prisons Thushara Upuldeniya the number of prisoners in jails had exceeded 30,000.
The Defence Secretary also said that the law enforcement authorities are working to crackdown on all levels of drug peddling.
Recalling one of his recent visits to a rural village in the Dambulla area, he said villagers had handed over more than 10 letters to the nearest Army camp where he was staying that night requesting him to get that village under his purview to curb the drug menace.