Female inmates at Welikada Prison take to producing sanitary pads

Six female inmates at the Welikada prison are currently engaged in a project to manufacture sanitary pads in a bid to meet the requirements of around 500 female inmates.

The project had taken shape after the SAARC Chamber Women Entrepreneurs Council had donated a machine worth Rs 2 million to manufacture sanitary towels earlier this year.

“Although some families provide the required sanitary pads, no one visits other inmates including those who are serving life imprisonment terms,” Commissioner of Prisons (Rehabilitation) Chandana Ekanayake said.

He noted that sufficient pads are not made available through prison supplies, and as a result, this need had to be fulfilled with the assistance of well-wishers and friends.

The six inmates who are engaged in the manufacturing process are serving lengthy jail terms after being found guilty over narcotic-related offences, S.I.S. Surangi Thilakaratne, a prisons rehabilitation officer said.

She added that 80 packets of pads are produced each day under the brand name ‘Sinidu’. “I believe that these women will be able to undertake their own start-up businesses after completing their terms,” Ms. Thilakaratne noted.

(Reporting and pics by Reka Tharangani Fonseka)