Major reforms are urgently needed for all bulk procurement and distribution of rice and other food items within the GoSL’s system. 

This novel report by IGR reveals that at least 80 percent of the NLe211,301,884 (equivalent to USD17.8m) allocated for the procurement of rice for prisoners from 2016 to 2023 was a wasteful expenditure. On paper, each prisoner was allocated an average of 10.2 cups of rice daily, and nearly the same amount was spent on what they described as regular and special diets (referring to fish, meat, ‘plasas’, and other condiments).