Sri Lanka deploys troops to contain growing prison unrest
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Sri Lanka Air Force soldiers taking up positions outside the country’s main Welikada Prison in the capital Colombo on Aug 7.
PHOTO: AFP
- Sri Lanka deployed troops to control unrest in three prisons after failed escape attempts left several inmates and guards dead or injured.
- Overcrowding, with prisons holding about four times their capacity, is blamed for the rising violence and riots.
- Authorities suspect a conspiracy behind the incidents and plan to build new prison facilities using disused state buildings.
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COLOMBO – Sri Lanka deployed troops to its main maximum security prison in Colombo and two other jails on Aug 7, following unsuccessful breakout attempts in which three inmates were killed and 23 wounded, a government minister said.
Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala said an inmate was killed and 10 others wounded after guards thwarted an attempt by about 40 convicts to escape from Colombo’s maximum-security Welikada Prison on the night of Aug 6.
Sri Lankan jails have been hit by a spate of unrest in recent weeks, with 10 guards and 23 inmates killed in two separate riots at two other prisons outside Colombo since July.
Officials have attributed the growing unrest to acute overcrowding. Sri Lanka’s prisons hold about four times their intended capacity.
Wijepala told Parliament that the situation at the Welikada jail had been brought under control, but similar unrest was reported at another prison in Kuruwita, about 80km south-east of Colombo.
Two inmates were killed and another 13 wounded at Kuruwita, he said.
“Security forces have been deployed at that prison too and order has been restored,” Wijepala said.
Unrest was also reported at a prison in Pallansena, north of Colombo, where 30 inmates climbed onto the roof and refused to return to their cells after breakfast on Aug 7.
“We see a pattern in these incidents and suspect a conspiracy,” Wijepala told Parliament, without giving further details.
The authorities announced plans in July to convert disused state buildings into prisons, but new facilities have yet to be added.
More than three-quarters of inmates in Sri Lanka are remand prisoners awaiting trial, with most being held in connection with drug offences. AFP
