Two inmates were killed and others injured in unrest at the Kuruwita Prison in the Ratnapura district, where police and prison officers used tear gas to bring the situation under control.
Justice and National Integration Minister Harshana Nanayakkara said the tense situation at Kuruwita has been brought under control after authorities deployed minimal force, Ada Derana reported. Inmates damaged the prison hospital during the disturbance.
Ada Derana reported the unrest first erupted on the evening of Thursday, August 6, and flared again on Friday morning, when tear gas was used. Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala told Parliament the Friday incident began at around 6.30 a.m.
The injured count has been revised repeatedly
The number of injured has moved through the day. Ada Derana and the Daily Mirror first reported four inmates injured, two of whom later died. NewsFirst put the figure at 11 injured, admitted to Ratnapura Hospital. Wijepala told Parliament that 13 were injured and are being treated at Ratnapura Hospital — the most recent official figure.
Police and the Special Task Force were deployed to strengthen security outside the prison. The Department of Prisons confirmed that a tense situation had developed inside the facility and that security measures were activated in response. A senior police officer in charge of the area said tear gas was used to bring the unrest under control.
Second prison flare-up in under 12 hours
The incident comes hours after a separate disturbance at Colombo’s Magazine Prison in Borella late on Thursday night, where inmates in the ‘E’ ward left the ward and behaved in a disorderly manner. Police said that unrest — reported to have been triggered by a dispute over illicit drugs among inmates — was brought under control after riot units and Special Task Force officers were deployed.
The two incidents follow a difficult period for Sri Lanka’s prison system. Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara told Parliament on Thursday that the report of the committee appointed to investigate the violent unrest at the Negombo Prison on 5 July has been presented to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. That clash killed 22 inmates and 10 prison officers, and left 106 inmates and 21 officers injured, he said.
Overcrowding and the circulation of narcotics inside prisons have been raised repeatedly as underlying pressures on the system. The Department of Prisons has put the national prison population at around 40,000 against a system designed to hold about 11,000, with some 30,000 of those held on remand.
Kuruwita was the third of four facilities to report unrest in roughly 36 hours. A fourth, the Pallansena Open-Air Correctional Centre in Negombo, saw inmates stage a roof protest later on Friday. Wijepala told Parliament that intelligence reports have raised suspicions the incidents may be organised and coordinated, and that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has called an emergency meeting of prison stakeholders.
Update: both prisons under control, investigation opened
The Department of Prisons said on Friday evening that the situation at both Kuruwita and Pallansena had been brought under control by prison staff, with assistance sought from the Sri Lanka Police and the Police Special Task Force to contain the unrest.
The department has opened an investigation into the disturbances at the two facilities. Security has since been strengthened at both locations, with deployments of police, the STF and the military.
The Daily Mirror reported that 13 inmates from Kuruwita were hospitalised and two died, and that tear gas was fired at Pallansena.
This report will be updated as details are confirmed.
Sources: Hiru News, NewsFirst, Daily Mirror, Ada Derana, Ada Derana, Ada Derana, Daily Mirror, Hiru News.
