World Prisons
All prisons

Sri Lanka

Bogambara Prison

Low
Verified 29 May 2026
Fresh · 0d ago

Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.

For families

How to send mail, money, and visit Bogambara Prison

Step-by-step guidance using the Sri Lanka system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.

Open toolkit
Photograph of Bogambara Prison

Gallery

From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).

  • Bogambara Prison Kandy (Front View).JPG

    Photo by MediaJet via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

  • Bogambara Prison kandy 2017-10-20 (1).jpg

    Photo by Z thomas via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • Bogambara Prison kandy 2017-10-20 (2).jpg

    Photo by Z thomas via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • Bogambara Prison Kandy.jpg

    Photo by calflier001 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

  • Gallows of Bogambara Prison I.JPG

    Photo by MediaJet via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

  • Gallows of Bogambara Prison II.JPG

    Photo by MediaJet via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

  • SL Kandy asv2020-01 img06 Bogambara Prison.jpg

    Photo by A.Savin via Wikimedia Commons (FAL)

  • SL Kandy asv2020-01 img07 Bogambara Prison.jpg

    Photo by A.Savin via Wikimedia Commons (FAL)

Background

Bogambara Prison was a maximum security prison and the second largest prison in the country after Welikada Prison in Colombo, Sri Lanka. After operating for 138 years, the prison was closed on 1 January 2014, and the inmates were transferred to the new Dumbara prison complex in Pallekele. In 2019, the government declared the prison site would become a cultural tourism centre, the Bogambara Cultural Park.

Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.

Capacity

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Current population

—

Occupancy

—

Year opened

1876

Operational

Facility profile

Operator

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Population held

Mixed/unknown

Opened

1876

Region

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Security level

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Death-row facility

No

Conditions

No conditions summary available yet.

Visiting

No visiting information available.

Mailing

No mailing information available.

Practical info

Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.

Known issues

No major issues documented in our database.

Contact & address

No public contact details available.

Conditions Risk Score

Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated

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Insufficient data
We don't have enough public data on this facility to score it. Have something to add? Send us a correction.

Data completeness

16%

How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.

Sources