Commissioner General of Prisons H.M.T.N Upuldeniya said they will carry out a prompt classification of prisoners islandwide and the convicts who are graded as high-risk criminals will be detained at Boossa.

He made these observations following an inspection tour at the upgraded Boossa High Security Prison on Sunday. He unveiled the new name board of the prison and opened the newly-built bachelors’ quarters at the premises. Any misdeed or transgression that would be a threat to the society will not be permitted to occur within prisons in the future, the Commissioner General of Prisons said.

“With the objective of assuring a secured country, Boossa Prison was upgraded as a High-Security Prison to detain high-risk convicts. The upgrading of the prison was initiated following a decision taken jointly by Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne and the chiefs of the State Intelligence Service. They decided to keep back high-risk prisoners separated from other prisoners. We hope to take all measures to protect society from any threat that would be caused by these high-risk inmates. It is our obligation to stop any social threat or intimidation from these notorious jailbirds,” Upuldeniya said.

Commenting on the Prison Department’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak, he stated that since the beginning of the pandemic eruption, they maintained a special scheme with regard to the new prisoners referred from the judiciary.

“We did not directly admit them to our prisons. Before they are sent to the respective jails, they are subjected to a compulsory 14-day quarantine process and subsequent PCR tests. In addition, we carry out random PCR tests within our prisons.

We have currently stopped public visits to the high security prisons. Instead, we have facilitated the prisoners to talk to their families once a week for three minutes,” he said.

“Our prisons officials are collectively and cooperatively shoulder their responsibilities to uphold the high security status of prisons. They work dedicatedly to end all misdeeds and duplicitous actions that were reported some time ago within the prisons. “We are specifically concerned over the hostel issue of the prison officials. State Minister Sudarshani Fernandopulle is planning out a scheme to provide our officers with a special incentive for their devoted and proficient services,” he revealed.

“At present illegal use of mobile phones inside prisons has been significantly discouraged. We are planning a new scheme for the rehabilitation of drug addicts among the prisoners. We are constantly maintaining links with the police and intelligence agents to obtain information on various illegal activities carried out in prisons. If we find any prison official is connected with such unlawful performances we shall strictly deal with such dishonest officials,” he said.