Fettered dreams of justice

Wednesday, 13 March 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The events unfolding on top of the Welikada Magazine Prison where two prisoners have begun a hunger strike demanding redress from unfair treatment have a hackneyed quality to them. Perhaps this is because it was also the venue where 27 prisoners were killed and 59 others injured just three months ago or maybe it is because justice for people condemned by the law is a foreign concept to Sri Lanka.

Whatever the reason, the result is saddening. One might dismiss the protestors by pointing out that these people committed wrongs and therefore deserve whatever is coming to them. Yet it cannot be denied that the punishers have a responsibility as well, namely to provide justice and fair treatment so that these people can become productive citizens.

It is precisely this that the prisoners claim is lacking. They hold, according to reports, that politicisation within the prison system is victimising them resulting in unfair treatment. One particular point that was made was the lack of equitable selection for pardons where only ‘well connected’ prisoners are released. In a country where cronyism has become a national religion, these are accusations that can be readily believed.

The death of the 27 prisoners was also highlighted in the report that was compiled by United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner N. Pillay and presented to the ongoing UNHRC sessions. The report points out that no transparent or credible investigation was made on the deaths and why such a large number of inmates were killed in the riot, which also involved the Army. It must also be remembered that two other protests – in Magazine and Vavuniya – also took place, raising serious questions about prisoner rehabilitation, implementation of law and equitable rights.

Even though there is no love lost between Pillay and the Sri Lankan Government, the fair-minded public has to question what this says of the moral standards of the country. Prisoners are made not born and a society that contributes to creating them and then victimising them even within a process that is supposed to achieve the opposite should motivate a twinge of conscience. In an atmosphere when the Government has repeatedly stated that it is willing to improve its human rights record, clear investigations into riots, prisoner treatment and rights will stand as a landmark step.

It is said that the worth placed on life by a State can be evaluated by the way it treats its prisoners and if that be the case, then Sri Lanka’s road remains long and tenuous. As challenging as it would be, credible investigations are only one step towards restructuring the entire prison system.

The very state of the prisoners, their treatment, and rehabilitation leave much to be desired. Repeated reports of prisoners on death row, where the riot is said to have started, overflows with base treatment with inmates not even having basic requirements. Most are forced to endure inhuman conditions and long sentences with little hope for appeals or competent legal representation. These largely remain in the dominion of the well-heeled.

To have their voices heard, prisoners have to resort to drastic acts such as attacking jailors or holding satyagrahas/hunger strikes on rooftops. This is a situation clearly crying out for accountability and justice, but that remains a fettered dream.