AG issues guidelines to Police on obtaining bail for certain categories of prisoners

• President directs steps be taken to release deserving inmates to ease congestion
• AG says of 13,000 remand poisoners, over 8,000 related to drug offences
• Gives categories to be considered for bail
• Large-scale drug dealers and those involved in money laundering will be not considered

Attorney General (AG) Dappula de Livera yesterday advised the Acting IGP Chandana Wickramaratne to move courts to release some categories of drug offenders on bail, based on guidelines formulated by the AG’s Department as part of COVID-19 control measures. The AG’s advice came after Secretary to the President Dr. P.B. Jayasundara wrote to the AG, stating that while some remand prisoners have been released due to the COVID-19 outbreak, there are still a considerable number of remand prisoners who are languishing in custody over a long period of time, pending conclusion of their judicial proceedings. He said the President had directed that steps be taken to release deserving inmates after the assessment of the seriousness of the charges levelled against them, having obtained related information from the Police Department and the Prison Department. In response, the AG wrote to the Acting IGP noting that of the 13,000 remand prisoners in the country, around 8,000 are in prison for drug-related offences.

He said there was an urgent requirement to lessen congestion in prison due to the spread of the coronavirus and said the decision to release some of the inmates has been taken after discussion with the senior Police and Prison officials as well as the Government Analyst (GA). The AG said that he is using the powers vested in him under section 393 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, to issue the directive on obtaining bail for remand prisoners.

Those to be considered for release on bail are those who have been arrested for having in their possession between 10- 20 grams of heroin, and have been in remand custody for over three months pending a report from the GA, as well as those who have been on possession of 5 to 10 grams of heroin and have been in remand custody for over a month with a GA report pending. Those who have been in possession of less than 5 grams are to be considered for release with or without a report from the GA.

The other categories who are to be considered for release are persons who have been in possession of one to two grams of pure heroin and have been in remand for three months and those who have had in the possession less than one gram of pure heroin and have been in remand of for over a month. Those who have been caught with the possession of over 5 kilos of cannabis and have been in prison for over a month, and those who have had less than five kilos of cannabis, are to be released irrespective of time spent in jail.

However, the AG directed that these guidelines should not be used to obtain bail for those who have been engaged in large-scale drug trade and nor for those involved in money laundering. The guidelines will also not apply to habitual drug offenders and registered Island Reconvicted Criminals (IRC)s. Police have been asked to report to court and obtain bail for these prisoners and to ensure that those released are kept under close watch by the Police of the areas they are resident in.