Compensation of Rs. 2 million each was handed to the families of 10 prison officers killed in the Negombo Prison violence at a ceremony held at Prison Headquarters on Friday.
All 10 were attached to the Prison Emergency Response Unit. The payments were made under the Agrahara insurance scheme operated by the National Insurance Trust Fund (NITF), which covers accidental death and injury benefits for public servants.
NITF Chief Executive Officer Yushan Tharanga said the fund had decided to release the money promptly rather than wait for all the usual documentation to be completed, given the circumstances in which the officers died.
Acting Commissioner General of Prisons Prasad Hemantha Kumara, who attended the ceremony, said the Department of Prisons had begun a separate programme of relief measures for the families of the deceased officers in addition to the insurance payment.
Hiru News, reporting from the same event, said the ceremony at the Prison Headquarters auditorium combined the compensation handover with a tribute to the officers, and that payments were directed to relatives and children of the dead.
Payment follows July commitment
The disbursement completes a commitment made in July, when authorities announced that families of officers killed in the riot would receive over Rs. 2 million each. Officers who died were also granted posthumous promotions.
The Negombo Prison unrest was the deadliest incident in the Sri Lankan prison system in years and has driven a sequence of official responses, including a committee report submitted to the President, a nationwide tightening of prison security and a joint mechanism on inmate safety. Repairs to the damaged facility and the transfer of inmates to Bogambara were announced this month.
