Requests for assistance with posting bail and complaints against stringent bail conditions Assault allegedly perpetrated by police officers Requests for legal assistance and legal aid Complaints discussing overcrowding of prisons and associated issues Inmates (local) requesting to contact their families Requests for transfers to other institutions i.e. transfer to prisons closer to their hometown/family, transfer to prisons where the local language is the prisoner's language of proficiency Issues related to pardons and commutations8 of sentences Grievances related to family visits in prison Complaints about the delay in issuing Government Analyst Reports by the Government Analyst Department Complaints regarding sentence calculation and remission within the prison Complaints alleging judicial injustice Issues related to conditions of work in open prison and work camps Issues related to the court procedures i.e. language Requests from foreign nationals regarding contact with their families Issues about the home leave procedure Requests from foreign nationals for embassies and consulates Complaints against lawyers Requests for providing disability assistance i.e. white cane, new prosthesis 85 Total number of complaints and requests received during the course of the study 921 4.4. 80 64 52 35 34 31 19 17 15 11 11 10 9 8 7 4 3 Letters from death row prisoners Due to the overwhelming number of condemned prisoners at the Welikada Prison who wished to speak with the Prison Study Team and relate their stories, the Commission requested condemned prisoners to write their story themselves, with the help of other prisoners where necessary, and submit it to the Commission. A total of 375 letters were received, written in English, Sinhala and Tamil, and the writers of these letters constitute 48% of the condemned (and condemned on appeal) prisoners in Welikada Prison. Information obtained from the letters was used in conjunction with data collected through questionnaires and interviews in analysis, and excerpts of letters have been quoted in the report. However, these are solely the views of condemned prisoners held at the Welikada Prison, as letters were not obtained from condemned inmates held at other prisons. Condemned inmates from Welikada Prison constitute 60% percent of the total population of condemned prisoners in the sample of prisoners– as at 5 April 2018. 8 Count does not include similar requests or complaints from the letters of the condemned prisoners where the same issue was raised. 12