COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
―Later the head of the prisons department told BBC Sinhala that the treatment of the
prisoners was less than ideal and that this would be corrected.‖
11.16 The Prison Brief for Sri Lanka 224 produced by the International Centre for Prison
Studies, partner of the University of Essex, undated (accessed on 3 February 2012)
recorded a daily average prison population of 26,984 (for 2010), including pre-trial
detainees/remand prisoners amounting to 51.5% (average 2010 per cent of total)
against an official capacity of the prison system of 10,692 (in 2007). The prison
population rate (per 100,000 of national population) was 129 (based on an estimated
national population of 20.86 million at mid-2010). In 2007 the total prison population was
24,255 (with a prison population rate of 120) while for 2004 the figures were
respectively 20,661 and 105.
11.17 The Department of Census and Statistics Sri Lanka in its Statistical Abstract 2010 –
Chapter XIII - Social Conditions 225 , table 13.9, Convicted persons by ethnic group and
sex, 2002 - 2009 and table 13.10, Unconvicted persons by ethnic group and sex, 2002 -
2008 (website accessed on 19 May 2011), recorded that in 2009 the number of
unconvicted prisoners totalled 108,868 (101,294 males; 7,574 females and 75,322
Sinhalese; 20,439 Tamils). In the same year the total figure for convicted prisoners was
37,872 (36,590 males; 1,282 females and 27,087 Sinhalese; 5,323 Tamils).
DEATHS IN CUSTODY
11.18 The Country of Origin Information (COI) Bulletin: Recent reports on Torture and illtreatment,
published on 30 November 2011 226 (See also Torture) provides information
on this issue and report on recent cases. See in particular paragraphs 1.29; 1.30; 1.32;
2.07; 3.02; 3.11.
11.19 The Sri Lankan NGO Collective, Joint Alternative Report from the Sri Lankan NGO
Collective to the Committee Against Torture 227 dated 14 October 2011 noted that
―According to media reports there have been nine deaths in custody in the year 2011
and 96 cases of torture. No legal and administrative action regarding the same has
been undertaken.‖ A Table on 2009 - 2011 Examples of Custodial Deaths is contained
within the report, and six cases of deaths in custody – with the related details - are
recorded. [see p34]‖
224
International Centre for Prison Studies, Prison Brief for Sri Lanka, undated
http://www.prisonstudies.org/info/worldbrief/wpb_country.php?country=111 date accessed 3 February
2012
225
Department of Census and Statistics Sri Lanka, Statistical Abstract 2010 – Chapter XIII - Social
Conditions, table 13.9, Convicted persons by ethnic group and sex, 2002 - 2009 and table 13.10,
Unconvicted persons by ethnic group and sex, 2002 – 2009
http://www.statistics.gov.lk/abstract2010/chapters/Chap13/AB13-9.pdf date accessed 19 May 2011
226
Country of Origin Information (COI) Bulletin: Recent reports on Torture and ill-treatment, 30
November 2011
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/coi/srilanka12/bulletin-
11111.pdf?view=Binary date accessed 13 January 2012
227
The Sri Lankan NGO Collective, Joint Alternative Report from the Sri Lankan NGO Collective to the
Committee Against Torture, 14 October 2011,
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/NGOCollective_SriLanka47.pdf date accessed 7
February 2012 paragraph 97 and Annexure - Table on 2009 - 2011 Examples of Custodial Deaths
100 The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.