President Anura Kumara Dissanayake met senior officials from the Department of Prisons at the Presidential Secretariat, focusing discussions on the deadly unrest at Negombo Prison and how to prevent a repeat of the violence.
The meeting, attended by prison superintendents, jailers and other senior officers, came just over a week after clashes between rival groups of inmates left 31 people dead — ten prison officers and 21 inmates in one of the deadliest prison disturbances in Sri Lankan history.
According to the President’s Media Division (PMD), the talks covered the structural and operational challenges currently facing the prison system and the urgent measures needed to address them, with the President and officials holding lengthy discussions on steps to avoid similar incidents in future.
The meeting also took up long-standing grievances among prison officers, including staffing shortages and working conditions, with the President’s office describing officer welfare as a key part of the agenda.
Officials told the President it was the first time they had been given the opportunity to raise their concerns directly with the Head of State, and thanked him for the meeting, the PMD said.
The talks follow a series of measures the Department of Prisons has announced since the July 5-6 riot, including compensation of more than Rs. 2 million for the families of officers killed, the temporary relocation of inmates to the old Bogambara and Mahamodara premises, and a Criminal Investigation Department probe that has recorded statements from more than 150 people.
