The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has held talks with senior defence, justice and police officials on preventing further violence inside the country’s prisons, following the unrest that swept several facilities including Negombo and Mahara.
The Commission said the meeting was attended by representatives of the Secretaries to the Ministries of Defence, Justice and Public Security, a Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police, a Deputy Inspector General representing the Inspector General of Police, the Acting Commissioner General of Prisons and several prison commissioners.
Discussion centred on the safety of inmates and prison officers, overcrowding, and inadequate sanitation and water facilities. Officials also revisited the Commission’s own report on prisons and detention centres, based on a comprehensive study carried out in 2018, together with the recommendations it issued in 2020.
New prisons and relocations
The Acting Commissioner General of Prisons told the Commission that steps are being taken to build new prisons at Bogambara and Mahamodara, and to relocate the Galle, Matara and Wariyapola prisons to more spacious sites. New buildings are also planned at the Kalutara and Boossa prisons.
Prison officials said work is under way to amend the relevant laws and introduce technological measures supporting alternatives to detention — including community service and house arrest — to address overcrowding.
That echoes the direction set out by the Justice Minister, who in early August tied the unrest to overcrowding and promised changes to bail law, and a committee recommendation to widen drug rehabilitation as a route out of custody for some inmates.
The Commission had summoned the heads of institutions connected to the unrest to appear before it on 18 August. The report of Sunday’s statement does not say on what date the discussion took place, and no outcome or timeline for the construction and relocation plans was given.
