Majority want death penalty restored

17 March 2014 05:16 pm

About 90 per cent of the public who visited the gallows at the Bogambara prison wanted the death penalty restored, a Prisons Department official said.

“More than 90 per cent of the visitors had sought the restoration of the death sentence, according to comments made in a book left near the gallows, seeking the views of the public about the implementation of the death sentence,” Senior Prisons Superintendent Tissa Jayasinghe told the Daily Mirror.

The Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms Ministry had shifted the inmates of the Bogambara Prison to a different location in Pallekele during the past few months. The prison buildings and premises will be handed over to the Urban Development Authorities.

The Bogambara Prison premises was opened for the public last Saturday and the main attraction was the gallows. During past two days more than 25,000 people had visited the former Prison premises, the department said. (J. A. L. Jayasinghe)-(Pix by Shane Senevitrathne)