At least 93 prisoners had died during the first seven and half months of this year and of them, eight had been shot dead while attempting to escape, Parliament was told yesterday.

In 2008, 141 prisoners had died due to other reasons while 14 had died trying to escape, Justice and Law Reforms Minister Milinda Moragoda said.

Minister Moragoda was answering a question raised by JVP Ranaweera Pathirana. MP Pathirana asked for the number of fatalities among prisoners between 2000 and July 13, 2009, and wanted to know how many had died trying to escape and how many due to other reasons.

The number killed while attempting to escape was one in 2000, none in 2001 and 2002, one in 2003, two in 2004, none in 2005, one in 2006, three in 2007 and 14 in 2008. In the first seven and half months of this year this number stood at eight, the Minister said.

The number of those who had died due to other reasons in prison was 75 in 2000, 83 in 2001, 122 in 2002, 95 in 2003, 139 in 2004, 145 in 2005, 141 in 2006, 157 in 2007, 141 in 2008 and 85 upto July this year.