House arrest to ease prison congestion
THE MORNING LK NEWS
12 Dec 2023
The Cabinet of Ministers has granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs, and Constitutional Reforms, President’s Counsel Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe to prepare a draft Bill for the introduction of legal provisions to retain suspects and convicted offenders of certain cases under house arrest as a remedy to remanding.
Earlier, a committee chaired by a Supreme Court judge was appointed to furnish appropriate recommendations to introduce legal provisions to keep suspects and offenders of cases under house arrest instead of their being imprisoned or remanded as a remedy to the issue of congestion in prisons, which has been identified as a long-lasting issue in the prisons of the country.
Accordingly, the Cabinet has approved to instruct the Legal Draftsman’s Department to prepare a draft Bill based on the report furnished by the said committee pertaining to the matter.