By Kasun Warakapitiya The Negombo Prison riot, which led to 29 deaths of inmates and prison officers and left more than 100 injured, exposed serious shortcomings in Sri Lanka’s prison system. Senior lawyers and prisoner welfare groups said overcrowding is the main reason for the unrest. The Negombo Prison riot occurred on Sunday evening, with [...]
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The Negombo Prison riot, which led to 29 deaths of inmates and prison officers and left more than 100 injured, exposed serious shortcomings in Sri Lanka’s prison system.
Senior lawyers and prisoner welfare groups said overcrowding is the main reason for the unrest.
The Negombo Prison riot occurred on Sunday evening, with two inmates being killed.
The Acting Commissioner General of Prisons, R. Prasad Hemantha Kumara, said two groups clashed and it was related to drugs and the underworld. The medical store was destroyed and drugs seized.
Meanwhile, women inmates climbed to the roof of prison buildings and demanded better treatment of prisoners and better health care, alleging that many inmates are sick with dengue.
Clockwise: Outside the Negombo prison, relatives of inmates weep after learning of their loved ones’ deaths; at Welikada, Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara listens attentively to prison officials voicing their concerns; armed security forces enter the Negombo prison complex through a road tunnel; and prison officers at the Welikada complex pay their last respects to colleagues killed in the riots. Pix by M. A. Pushpakumara
It is believed that the Sunday incident had occurred over some prisoners tipping off about a prison guard’s drug deals.
According to Mr Kumara, the initial situation was controlled on Sunday, and the prisoners were sent to their wards.
Clashes erupted between the inmates once more on Monday morning, and prison officers who attempted to intervene were attacked.
“The prisoners were just fed before the clash on Monday morning. It was a busy day, as it was a weekday, and there were some prisoners to be presented to courts, while there were visitors outside the courts awaiting to see the inmates,” he said.
Mr Kumara said that according to eyewitness accounts of prison officers, violent inmates had struck officers in the head and face.
The Sunday Times learned that the unrest began on Monday, as prison officials of the special unit popularly known as Banda Police, brought in from outside, had been harsh on inmates.
The sources alleged that the water connection to prisoners had been cut off, while they were told that visits and telephone connections would be reduced as a result of the Sunday clash.
But questions have been raised about whether precautions were taken after the initial clashes and if adequate security measures were taken with the possibility of fresh incidents breaking out.
Senaka Perera: President of the Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners. Pic by Indika Handuwala
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka’s (BASL) former president, President’s Counsel U.R. De Silva, told the Sunday Times that recommendations made by a committee appointed to inquire into the Mahara prison riot in 2020 had not been fully considered and implemented.
Mr de Silva was a member of the five-member committee headed by retired High Court Judge Sarojani Kusala Weerawardena.
He said the recommendations in the interim and the final reports were not fully implemented.
Increasing the capacity of prisons was recommended. “Then too, the prisons had overcrowding issues, which also led to prison riots.”
“The Mahara prison riot occurred following allegations that inmates who tested positive for Covid-19 were not given adequate care. A similar allegation was now being made about Negombo prison inmates infected with dengue. This shows the recommendations included in the interim report had failed to be implemented.”
Mr de Silva said increasing the number of prison officers was also suggested.
A formal system to provide prison inmates food and necessary equipment through welfare centres was recommended, reducing the need for prison visits. Checking food brought in for inmates will not arise then. Also, the quality of food should be improved.
The other recommendations were to allow prison inmates more opportunities to contact their families by telephone, negating the need to smuggle in mobile phones.
Apart from that, the recommendations emphasised that remand prisoners and long-term convicts be housed separately to remove them from ganging up together and creating connections.
The interim report submitted to Parliament on December 9, 2020, by the then Justice Minister M.U.M. Ali Sabry also recommended that inmates who could be bailed after paying fines or further reports must be subjected to PCR tests, according to the Attorney General’s instructions to the police.
A mechanism to quickly release convicted prison inmates was recommended, considering their term in prison while prioritising the elderly.
Mr De Silva emphasised that, first, baseless imprisonment should be stopped and pointed out that the police take suspects to courts for offences of possession of over 10 grams of drugs such as heroin, cocaine, morphine, opium or methamphetamine.
According to the existing Poisonous, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, a person who possesses a pure quantity of 10 grams of drugs could not be released on bail except by the Court of Appeal (CA). Suspects are remanded until the Government Analyst’s report is obtained and submitted to the CA.
Mr Silva said that to deal with overcrowding in prisons, amendments to the ordinance were submitted by early January and handed to Justice Minister Harahana Nanayakkara.
However, the minister had not got Cabinet approval for the amendments nor submitted them to Parliament through an order paper before the Negombo prison riot.
The amendments were to increase the quantity of drugs trafficked, imported, exported or possessed exceeding 100 grams to not be bailable except through the Court of Appeal as well as to take legal action according to the gross weight of the drugs.
The Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners pointed out that the prison riot exposed long-standing shortcomings in the system.
Its president, lawyer Senaka Perera, said the incident itself showed that prison officials had failed to de-escalate the situation from the initial incident on Sunday.
“The overcrowding of prisons is the main issue which leads to unrest, as it has become the cause for many issues, as nearly a hundred prisoners have to share a toilet and sleep on two-hour turns. There are many prisoners of different mentalities confined in small spaces; this could fuel unrest,’’ he said.
He noted that the Negombo Prison capacity is 680 inmates, yet there are over 2,417.
Mr Perera said the prisons’ main objectives are custody, care and correction, yet he is sceptical about whether the care and corrections are achieved with the current state of the prisons.
He said overcrowding had also impeded corrections, as the remand prisoners who are considered innocent until proven guilty are also housed with those who are serving sentences.
Most remand prisoners are suspects in drug-related cases, and many are addicts. They need to be medically rehabilitated and given psychological support so they can return to society after release.
Mr Perera also said that healthcare for the inmates should also improve and better care should be given to prisoners.
Senior prison officials declined to further elaborate, citing ongoing investigations.
Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara expressed his condolences to the families of both the prison officers and the inmates who died.
He said the incident was a disaster and that he takes the responsibility. Neither he nor the government thinks it is a trivial matter, he said.
Mr Nanayakkara said that as a responsible government, the mistake should be identified and addressed. Investigations will be comprehensive.
He said the government has appointed a three-member probe committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Priyatha Fernando and including as members retired Additional Solicitor General Milinda Gunathilaka, PC, and Mohan Weerakoon, PC.
Apart from that, multiple investigations by the CID, prisons and police are underway.
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