Sri Lanka has deployed troops to prisons amid unrest
Sri Lankan authorities have deployed troops to the Velikada maximum-security prison in Colombo and two other correctional facilities amid the unrest. According to Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala, three inmates were killed and 23 others were injured during the incidents at Velikada and Kuruwita.
On Thursday evening, guards foiled an escape attempt by approximately 40 inmates from Velikada Prison. One inmate was killed, and ten were injured. Wijepala told Parliament that the situation at that facility had been brought under control.
Unrest also broke out at the prison in Kuruwita, about 80 kilometers southeast of Colombo. There, two inmates were killed and 13 others were injured. According to the minister, security forces were deployed to the prison, and order has been restored.
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At the prison in Pallanseni, north of Colombo, 30 inmates climbed onto the roof and refused to return to their cells after breakfast. Wijeepala told parliament that authorities see a pattern in these incidents and suspect a conspiracy, though he did not provide details.
According to Euronews, riots have also occurred in two other prisons outside Colombo in recent weeks. Since last month, 10 guards and 23 inmates have been killed in two separate riots there. Officials attribute the increase in unrest to severe overcrowding: the country’s prisons are holding approximately four times more people than their designed capacity.
More than three-quarters of prisoners in Sri Lanka are being held in pretrial detention, and most of them are being held in connection with drug-related cases. Last month, authorities announced plans to convert unused government buildings into prisons, but the new facilities have not yet been added.
