Prisoners and COVID-19

The tragic events that transpired at the Mahara prison have become part of public discourse and deserve closer examination to provide some level of transparency and accountability. 

The Government has already initiated at least three separate inquiries into the violence that left nine people dead and dozens of others, mostly prisoners, injured. The brutal culmination of events has shocked a country already trying to deal with the multitude of challenges posed by COVID-19 and while it is positive that the Government has pledged so many investigations and the Opposition has supported the quest for scrutiny, public vigilance will be necessary to ensure that this issue is not swept under the carpet and genuine reforms are made.

Sri Lankan prisons have long had a problem of overcrowding, and as the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic looms ever larger, it’s understandable that tensions within prisons were fast reaching a boiling point. The events that transpired at Mahara and protests at Bogambara and Negombo prisons indicate that concerns about the rapid spread of COVID-19 were rife and played a significant role in prisoners’ behaviour. 

Despite concerns conveyed to the Attorney General and others about the impact the virus could have in overcrowded prisons as early as April there was little headway in implementing solutions. The virus moved faster and, by accounts in the public domain, the prison officials opened fire on unarmed inmates. The details of what exactly happened in the standoff are unclear but what cannot be denied is that the families of the inmates as well as the public whose taxes fund this system, deserve to know the truth.

Sri Lankan prisons are notorious for being congested, poorly supplied and badly funded – to the point that in 2016, following an observational visit, the United Nations Special Rapporteur had criticised the prison system as being characterised by very deficient infrastructure and pronounced overcrowding. 

Overcrowding also results in limited access to medical treatment, recreational activities or educational opportunities. The UN insisted that these conditions, combined, resulted in a form of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of people.

Indeed, levels of population have been observed to exceed capacity by well over 200% or 300%. The Vavuniya Remand Prison in particular has been a striking example of overcrowding. At the time of the UN visit, one of its halls hosted 170 prisoners, which gave 0.6 metres of space per person. In the same building, other prisoners were forced to sleep on the staircase for lack of space in the detention areas. In addition, cells designed for one person were occupied by four or five inmates. 

The cause for this overcrowding is no mystery; congested prisons are a direct result of lengthy sentences for non-violent and drug-related offences. Suspects are subjected to lengthy remand periods, with many being detained for years, and some even up to 10-15 years.  Over the years, activists have urged Sri Lanka to consider measures to make more non-violent offences bailable and to experiment with alternatives to incarceration. 

Sri Lanka’s focus on punitive rather than restorative justice, coupled with a sluggish legal system that takes years to hear cases, outdated laws and an underfunded prison system, make dealing with rehabilitation extremely challenging. COVID-19 has only blown open these long standing issues. The Government’s wish to establish a disciplined society will only be successful if it deals with the entire spectrum of this law and order process and provides solutions.