A Criminological Study on the problems faced by the women prisoners Convicted for drug offences in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has a long history of drug use, mainly cannabis and opium. Both compounds have also been used as a pharmaceutical preparation in herbal medicine. Most researchers agree that the problem of drug abuse began to increase in the 1970s. According to Gunatilake, accurate estimation was impossible as no scientific survey had been carried out during this period. According to a survey made during the period 1975-1981, there were only 3200 known drug dependents and most of them were opium and cannabis users in this country. Heroin suddenly shot into prominence in the late seventies and early eighties. There were very few heroin users in the 1980s. In 1981 the police were able to seize 0.277 kilograms of heroin. In many instances, heroin was smuggled from India and Pakistan. In 2017, more than one thousand kilograms were seized from individuals and among them 4% were females. The use of heroin in the country has increased rapidly and thousands of drug users both males and females had emerged by 2017. It was estimated that 10,432 males and 157 females were imprisoned for narcotic drug offences in 2017. Drug abuse among females in Sri Lanka is on the increase. Female drug users are likely to be more stigmatized than their male counterparts and they are regarded as double deviants. Drug habits among Sri Lankan females have increased faster than those of men. Compared to the drug abuse of men, women’s drug abuse could bring more negative consequences to the health, families, and society at large. In Sri Lanka, female drug offenders are imprisoned to rehabilitate them but many such females return to prison upon their release after being reconvicted for drug offences. Therefore, this study is aimed at finding the problems faced by the women prisoners whose rehabilitation process has been hindered during their stay at the prison and also upon their release. This study was carried out concerning the women prisoners imprisoned in Welikada women’s prison in 2018 and 30 inmates were selected from a systematic sample. In addition, 10 prison officers both male and female were selected as respondents. Interviews, case studies, and observation methods were utilized for data collection. The findings of the study revealed that societal factors, shortcomings of the rehabilitation programs, poverty, unhealthy home environment, and mental confusion have affected negatively in the process of women prisoners in their social integration and rehabilitation.