remand prisons have a separate YO Section.114 It must be pointed out that the national law as it currently stands allows persons under the age of eighteen to be housed with adults, because different laws contain varied definitions of a young/youthful offender, with persons aged up to twenty-two years being considered YOs. There is hence no distinction made between those over eighteen years of age and those under eighteen years. This is contrary to both the Sri Lankan Charter on the Rights of the Child, formulated by the government of Sri Lanka in 1992 after ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereinafter referred to as the CRC), as well as the CRC, according to which persons under the age of eighteen are considered to be children. The Commission in its analysis and observations highlights the inconsistencies in the segregation of young persons and adults that was observed across prisons. The findings illustrate that the practice of segregation requires a fundamental shift in law and policy to ensure that persons under the age of eighteen are not held with persons above the age of eighteen. The Commission observed that, at HWC, the prison was divided into two sections, and adult prisoners and YOs were housed separately and no interaction was observed between the two categories except when the adult cleaning party inmates come to clean the premises of Suneetha Pasala, the school for YOs, the kitchen party inmates come to serve food to YOs or when YOs are taken to the PH, which is in the adult section, to receive medical attention. In many prisons there is a separate ward for youth, often with restricted outside hours, in order to minimise interaction between adults and the YOs. It was observed that, in practice, some prisons segregated those under eighteen while others segregated those under twenty-two years, as per the legislation. Hence, in some prisons, such as ACP, sixteen-year olds were housed with persons up to twenty-two years of age, while at prisons such as BRP remandees under the age of eighteen were housed separately. This is set out in the Table number 7.1. Table 7.1 – Segregating young prisoners Institution ACP AOPC ARP BATRP BRP Arrangement regarding segregation of young prisoners YI Ward for YOs. The youngest at the time of the Commission’s visit was sixteen years old. No separate ward for young convicted inmates was observed. C Special YO Ward housed convicted inmates and remandees under the age of twenty. The youngest detainee at the time of the Commission’s visit was seventeen years old. The Commission observed that there was a twenty-one-year-old in B2 Ward and a twenty-two-year-old in H1 Ward along with other adult inmates. E (YO) Ward housed inmates under the age of eighteen. F Ward housed convicted inmates and remandees under twenty-two years. The youngest inmate at the time of the visit was eighteen years old. F Ward also housed a remandee older than twenty-two who had 114 For a detailed discussion on the YOs within the prison system, please refer chapter Young Offenders. 76