An inmate escaped from Galle Prison in the early hours of Sunday morning, the Prisons Commissioner’s Office said, prompting the deployment of several police teams to trace him.
Prison authorities identified the escapee as Agampodi Dileep Sampath, a resident of Kuligoda, Galagoda, in Ambalangoda. He had been held in custody since June 22 in connection with four cases of housebreaking and theft being heard before the Balapitiya Magistrate’s Court.
The escape was discovered during a routine check of inmates on Sunday morning. Authorities said he got out over the prison’s security wall.
It has also emerged that Sampath had previously escaped custody while being held at Angunakolapelessa Prison.
Several police teams have been deployed to apprehend him. The Prisons Commissioner’s Office has not said whether any disciplinary or security review has been ordered at the facility.
A prison system under scrutiny
The escape comes at a difficult moment for the Department of Prisons. It follows unrest at Mahara Prison on Saturday in which one inmate died and six people were injured, with the kitchen, prison hospital, rehabilitation workshops and Chief Jailer’s Office extensively damaged. Prisons Spokesperson Commissioner A.C. Gajanayake said on Sunday that security forces had thwarted several escape attempts during those clashes.
Galle Prison has seen escape attempts before. An inmate was shot in the shoulder in May after officers opened fire to stop two detainees trying to flee the facility.
The Department of Prisons continues to operate without a permanently appointed Commissioner General — a gap SLPP national organiser Namal Rajapaksa cited on Saturday in calling the recent disturbances the result of “poor management, negligence, and a prison system that is under immense strain.”
Source: Hiru News.
