Government mulls transfer of high profile inmates to Manthivu island

COLOMBO (News1st): The justice ministry is mulling moves to transfer high-profile inmates to an island off Batticaloa, to avoid overcrowding in prisons, and crimes being manipulated by inmates. "It is easier to jam telephones in such an area," justice minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told reporters on Wednesday. He added that discussions are underway to construct a prison on the island, which only consists of a leprosy hospital, in order to relocate the prisoners. "There are only two leprosy patients in the hospital," de Silva noted. Underworld criminal, drug convicts, death row prisoners and those serving life terms, will be transferred to the Manthivu island, senior prison officials told News 1st. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, during a recent meeting with senior prison officials, had stressed the need to end crimes operated by high profile criminals from prisons. On Tuesday, security officials who raided four prisons recovered 82 mobile phones and 55 SIM cards, from prison cells including those which held underworld criminals.