Gazetted to re-deploy prisoners to the old Bogambara prison premises (photos)

To find a swift solution to the severe overcrowding in Sri Lanka's prison system and the tragic clashes that recently occurred at the Negombo Prison, the government has taken steps to re-establish the historic old Bogambara Prison complex in Kandy as a prison once again.

The Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 2496/21, dated Wednesday, July 08, 2026, for this purpose, has been issued by the Minister of Justice and National Integration, Mr. Harshana Nanayakkara. This decision has been made under the powers vested in the subject minister by Section 2 of the Prisons Ordinance (Chapter 54), and the old Bogambara complex will officially operate for the purposes of the Prisons Ordinance, with boundaries defined to affect the entirety of Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, concurrently, the government has also taken steps to establish a new prison in the Mahamodara area of Galle. Accordingly, the Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 2496/10, dated Tuesday, July 07, 2026, has been issued under the signature of the Minister of Justice and National Integration, Mr. Harshana Nanayakkara, to affect the entirety of Sri Lanka under Section 2 of the Prisons Ordinance.

The historic Bogambara Prison in Kandy, which operated for a long period of 138 years, is also part of history as one of the two prisons in the country where capital punishment was carried out. Spanning an area of 13 acres, this prison was constructed in a manner similar to the crown of Queen Victoria of Edinburgh, England, and the Bastille fortress in Paris, France. After the inmates held there were transferred to Pallekele Dumbara Prison, this prison was closed from January 01, 2014, and thereafter, it remained open only for public exhibition.

Previous governments in power had intended to implement various commercial and tourism plans for the Bogambara complex. Under the government of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, in 2024, the then Minister of Urban Development and Housing, Mr. Prasanna Ranatunga, had stated that a private investor had come forward to convert the Bogambara Prison into a hotel complex. At that time, plans were made to develop the main prison complex into a commercial building including shopping malls, food outlets, a museum, and a tourist hotel, while preserving its antiquity and colonial architecture.

Subsequently, under the current government of Mr. Anura Kumara Dissanayake, it was initially decided to utilize this complex for the tourism industry. Accordingly, based on a proposal submitted by the Minister of Urban Development, Construction, and Housing, at the Cabinet meeting held on June 03, 2025, approval was granted to invite investment proposals for cultural and tourism promotion activities within this complex under the conservation of World Heritage Buildings, and to lease this land for a development project on a 50-year lease basis.

However, the government has suddenly had to gazette the historic Bogambara complex, which had long been planned for such commercial and tourism projects, as a prison once again. This decision was necessitated by the severe crisis arising from the bloody clashes at Negombo Prison and the urgent need to quickly control the acute overcrowding in the prison system across the island.