PM presented with report on 46 children ‘incarcerated’ with their mothers

State Minister of Prison Reforms, Sudharshani Fernandopulle yesterday handed over a report to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa about 46 children who are growing up with their mothers serving jail terms.

The report was handed during an event to mark the Prisoner Welfare Day.

Rajapaksa then instructed Fernandopulle to investigate the possibility of those mothers being released from prisons under existing laws. The Prime Minister also asked the minister to formulate a system to rehabilitate drug addicts. When they were sent to work camps, it should be done in a systematic way and there should be systems in place to facilitate their recovery, he said.

These drug addicts should be trained on farms and factories,while being rehabilitated. Thus when they were released, they would not find it hard to be employed, the PM said.