3. Categories of prisoners • Convicted prisoners Convicted prisoners constitute 48% of the total population of prisoners and are required to undergo the rehabilitation process of the prison by virtue of their conviction status. The entitlements of convicted prisoners are restricted to a greater degree, in comparison to remand prisoners, as outlined in prison legislation. Normal convicted prisoners are required to spend a definitive amount of time in prison, while life and condemned prisoners serve indefinite sentences. Convicted prisoners participate in rehabilitative programmes and educational and vocational training, as part of their sentence as well as undertake assigned prison jobs. • Remandees Pre-trial detainees or remandees constitute 52%5 of the total prison population in Sri Lanka. This statistic, combined with the information from the DOP Statistics for the year 2019, illustrate that remandees spend many years in prison awaiting trial. This study will thus explore the conditions and treatment of unconvicted detainees in remand, and pay attention to the legal and policy issues that have resulted in a disproportionately large remandee population. Certain groups were flagged as special categories of prisoners to uncover the impact of their particular characteristics or detention status on their treatment and conditions in prison: • Prisoners on death row Despite the fact that Sri Lanka has maintained a moratorium on the death penalty since 1976, persons continue to be sentenced to death. Such prisoners are ‘condemned’ to a life in prison where they serve an indeterminate sentence, and are subject to long periods of confinement, reduced outside hours and no access to rehabilitative programmes or activities to keep them occupied throughout the day. • Persons arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act The Prevention of Terrorism Act (hereinafter referred to as PTA) allows individuals to be detained without charge for up to eighteen months and requires the approval of the Attorney-General to award bail. The possibility of long-term detention, including extended pre-trial detention, of which eighteen months could be administrative detention, and their suspected status as threats to national security may increase the vulnerability of persons remanded and convicted under this law. In the study, PTA inmates are distinguished 5 The population of prisoners has increased since April 2018. The number of male remand prisoners, as of 3 February 2020 is 14,607 and the number of male convicted prisoners is 10,500. Thus, the present remandee to convicted proportion is 58% to 42%. The number of female prisoners is 1,296. 7