29 April 2013 :

New Sri Lankan prisons chief C Pallegama said he wants to resolve the status of 461 death row inmates.
"Personally I don't agree with capital punishment," Pallegama told the BBC.
"Some [death row] prisoners have completed 20 years, 24 years, so there is a problem - their unrest, their stress." They wished either to be hanged or given formal life sentences, he said, adding that he too advocated such a resolution. Although there have been no hangings since 1976 two hangmen were recently recruited but were later reported to have been sacked after absconding.