W’kada prison to be relocated

15 May 2011 05:15 pm Views - 4943

The government had cancelled its decision to relocate the Welikada prison to Wellawaya in the Moneragala district, and instead, selected the Mahara area in the Gampaha district for the purpose, officials said today.

Prison Reforms Ministry Secretary A. Dissanayake told Daily Mirror that the Welikada prison was located in a commercially valuable land with 42 acres in extent on Baseline Road, Colombo. Mr. Dissanayake said that once the prison was relocated, the land would be released for development projects.

“We have realized that Wellawaya is not the ideal location for a prison. We have identified two places in Mahara now,” he said.

In Welikada, there are several prisons with roughly around 5000 prisoners. (KB)