The Department of Prisons is preparing to begin repairs next week to property at Negombo Prison damaged during the inmate unrest in July, with support from the Sri Lanka Air Force.
The department said the assessment of damage to the prison’s property is nearing completion.
Bogambara renovation in final stage
Renovation work at the former Bogambara Prison in Kandy, which has been formally designated a prison again through a gazette notification, has reached its final stage. The department expects to begin transferring inmates to the facility as early as next week.
Bogambara and the former Mahamodara Hospital premises in Galle were gazetted as prisons by Justice and National Integration Minister Harshana Nanayakkara in early July, after the Negombo unrest forced the relocation of most of that prison’s population. Officials have described both as temporary measures pending a wider response to overcrowding in the prison system.
Background
The clash at Negombo Prison on July 5 and 6 left 32 people dead — 22 inmates and 10 prison officers — with more than 120 injured. It was the deadliest incident in a Sri Lankan prison in decades and prompted a criminal investigation, a magisterial inquiry and a committee report submitted to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The Department of Prisons said last week that property damage from the clash exceeded Rs. 100 million, and that inmate registration records held at the facility were destroyed. The prison held around 2,400 inmates before the unrest; more than 600 remained afterwards, with some court proceedings conducted online.
Around 700 inmates were transferred to the Angunakolapelessa, Bogambara, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Kuruwita prisons in the weeks after the violence.
Read our running coverage of the Negombo Prison unrest and its aftermath.
Source: Repairs to Damaged Negombo Prison to Begin Next Week — NewsFirst, August 12.
