[1] In 2014 February the Speaker of the House and Member of parliament for Hambantota, Chamal Rajapaksa, laid the foundation stone for the prison.

It was formally declared opened on 16 October by Minister of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs, D. M. Swaminathan.

[3][4] The prison facilities also include onsite accommodation for 140 prison officers and their families, a hospital, fire station, 100 person cafeteria, and lecture halls.

The inmates having protested earlier against the alleged strip searches by members of the Special Task Force on 21 October.

The government in January 2019 appointed a three-man committee, headed by Prisons Commissioner-General, Nishan Dhanasinghe, to undertake a special inquiry into the attack.