Sri Lanka prison riots kill three as overcrowding crisis deepens
Authorities suspect narcotics dealers and criminal gangs orchestrated the disturbances, which occurred in facilities operating at four times their designed capacity.
Police and riot squads have been deployed across Sri Lanka following violent disturbances at three correctional facilities that resulted in three inmate deaths and 23 injuries. Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala reported to parliament on Friday that the unrest began late Thursday at New Magazine Prison in Colombo, where 40 inmates broke out of their cells, leading to one fatality.
The violence spread to Kuruwita Prison, located approximately 80km from the capital, where two more inmates were killed on Friday morning. Authorities also managed unrest at an open prison in Negombo, about 40km from Colombo, where officers fired tear gas at protesting inmates who had climbed onto rooftops or moved into open areas. Special forces were subsequently deployed to bring all three incidents under control.
Minister Wijepala indicated that the disturbances were linked to narcotics dealers and rival criminal gangs. He told parliament that the pattern of events suggested planning and an attempt at sabotage, though he cautioned that a comprehensive investigation was required to determine if the riots across the different facilities were coordinated.
The incidents exacerbate long-standing concerns regarding severe prison overcrowding in Sri Lanka. Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara recently stated in parliament that the prison system is operating at crisis levels, with more than 39,000 inmates housed in facilities designed for just 10,000. Senaka Perera, president of the Committee for Rights of Prisoners, confirmed that the inmate population is four times the system's capacity.
A significant portion of the prison population consists of suspects awaiting trial for alleged narcotics-related offences, a situation worsened by recent laws tightening bail conditions. To address the resulting backlog of more than one million court cases and reduce prisoner numbers, the government is planning to amend the constitution to extend the tenure of superior court judges by two years.
These disturbances follow a series of violent incidents in recent months, including a riot in Negombo a month ago that claimed the lives of 10 prison officials and 20 prisoners, and another incident in Mahara last weekend where one inmate died.
