Additional Commissioner General of Prisons and Prison Media Spokesperson Chandana Ekanayake, said over the years a total of around 5,000 school students have spent jail time for offences related to illegal drugs.
He said by 2015 this number had reached 2,000 and in the next seven years it has risen to 5,000.
Also, 22 graduates convicted of drug-related charges have been reported from prisons in 2020 and the total number of graduates in prisons by 2021 is 349, the Additional Commissioner General of Prisons said.
He said that by 2022, 2.2 percent of the inmates in prisons have not gone to school.
According to the statistical data released by the Prisons Department in 2021, 14,547 prisoners and 62,426 suspects are detained in prisons. Among them, 87 are under the age of 16 and 5,983 are in the age group of 16 to 22.
by dailynews sri lanka
, Security, ,