Prison authorities in Sri Lanka have confirmed that 39 children under the age of five are currently growing up with their mothers inside prisons across the island, including facilities in Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Jaffna.
Prison Commissioner Jagath Weerasinghe admitted the situation was “a matter of concern”, with children being raised in an environment described by campaigners as designed for punishment rather than care, with little access to healthcare or education.
Of the 39 children, 17 are boys and 22 are girls. They are spread across ten prisons: Welikada (16), Agunakolapelessa (4), Anuradhapura (1), Trincomalee (3), Kalutara (6), Batticaloa (2), Negombo (4), Badulla (1), Wariyapola (1) and Jaffna (1). Officials also noted that Sri Lanka’s prisons currently house 1,529 women inmates, including 1,304 on remand and 225 convicted. Among them, 19 are on death row and 24 are serving life sentences.
Rights advocates have warned that children born behind bars are denied contact with their wider families, forced to live in overcrowded cells with poor sanitation, and deprived of basic protections. Mental health specialists caution that the stress and violence of prison life can cause lasting developmental harm.
The plight of these 39 children has become emblematic of a wider crisis in Sri Lanka’s penal system. Last year, Sri Lankan officials admitted spending Rs. 4 Billion per year to jail more than 30,000 individuals, despite the maximum capacity of its prison being only 12,000.
A government audit based on data collected between 2015-2022 notes that Sri Lanka’s prison capacity has been exceeded by 232%.
