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Commissioner General of Prisons Nishan Chandrajith Dhanasinghe
Commissioner General of Prisons Nishan Chandrajith Dhanasinghe revealed that lives of some of the Prisons officials are at risk due to threats from underworld criminals, including drug kingpins.
“ The underworld kingpins in jails demand certain facilities and help from Prisons officials and when the officers refuse these demands, the lives of unarmed Prisons officers are under threat as the supporters of those underworld criminals harass our officials,” claimed Dhanasinghe.
The Prisons Chief in an exclusive interview with the Daily FT said that the majority of his men kept mum on these illegal requests due to fear but some of them fulfil these demands of the underworld criminals in jails as they are unable to escape these criminals.
He said that he has to work with an estimated 20% Prisons officials who may be corrupt and having close connections with underworld criminals.
Following are the excerpts of the interview:
By Shanika Sriyananda
Q: A Prisons jailor has been recently arrested along with an underworld drug dealer while transporting drugs. What action has been taken against the Prisons official?
A: Yes, he is attached to the Prisons Headquarters and the Police have arrested him in Bandaragama. The Police accuses him of possessing drugs. The department has already commenced an inquiry into the incident. He has been interdicted since last Monday and disciplinary action has been taken against him. We will not tolerate such illegal involvements by the Prisons staff.
Q: There were reports that claim some of the Prisons officials have connections with drug kingpins and provide them special facilities as they have been offered bribes. Are you aware of such illegal activities of your men?
A: Yes, there were some accusations against Prisons officers. If you take a Prisons officer, he too comes from the same society. When you take society as a whole, values have dropped significantly. People have different attitudes towards everything. Therefore, the Prisons officers also have different attitudes and we need to change that. The Department of Prisons has started some training programs for Prisons officers to educate and motivate them.
On the other hand, the lives of Prisons officers are under threat due to underworld criminals. They have money, power and man-power. They also possess illegal weapons. When these underworld kingpins are in jail, they demand certain facilities from the Prisons officers. When the officers refuse to fulfil their demands, the lives of unarmed Prisons officers are under threat as the supporters of those underworld criminals are harass our officers and their families.
The majority of Prisons officers keep mum on these illegal requests due to fear but some of them fulfil these demands of the underworld criminals in jails as they can’t escape these criminals. As a solution to protect the lives of my men and also to maintain the good name of the department, we have programs to motivate them to react negatively to those demands as a collective effort. When the majority of the officers say ‘no’ to those demands, the underworld can’t target each end every officer. But when only a few stand against the illegal activites in prisons, their lives are under threat.
Q: Do you mean to say that the underworld criminals are threatening Prisons officers if they turn down their demands?
A: Yes, of course. When they demand special facilities and our officers refuse them, they will be noted and threatened. More than 80% of the Prisons officers are honest officers but they do not come forward to show their opposition due to fear. They just keep silent without trying to prevent corruption as they want to avoid facing unnecessary problems. I want them to get into one large group to fight against illegal activities in prisons. Another reason for most of these officers who stand against corruption remaining silent is the lack of motivation and not appreciating their good work.
Q: According to you nearly 20% of the Prisons officers are engaging corruption?
A: I can’t specifically say that 20% are corrupt; there maybe 20% officers in the prisons who support illegal activities. If an officer is found guilty of supporting underworld criminals or selling drugs, we will take tough action against him. I want to reiterate that over 80% of my men are honest and are doing their job to a satisfactory level.
Q: How do you respond to the accusation levelled against high-ranking Prisons officers, who have taken bribes from Wele Suda?
A: Yes, the media has exposed details about some high-ranking Prisons officers having close connections with Wele Suda. I have written to the CID giving names of 17 suspected Prisons officers who allegedly have some connections with him. But I say this with responsibility, there are no top officials among them. Not even jailors are among that list. An inquiry is going on and we will take action against them based on CID investigation findings.
Q: Do you think you can make a difference in the country’s prisons?
A: For the last 18 years, no one has been appointed from the Department as the Commissioner General of Prisons. All Prisons Chiefs before me were appointed from outside. They had to study the system and depend on information provided by others to run the system. I see most of them were misled. But no one can fool me as I am from the department and I know what is going on in prisons. I am confident I can make a difference.
Q: It was reported that the Negombo Prison has become a haven for drug trafficking with the support of the Prisons staff. What do you have to say about this situation?
A: Yes, those days there were some problems, but now the situation is back to normal. During the last three years, the Superintendent of Negombo Prison is working hard by initiating different programs to change the mindset of the prisoners as well as the prison staff. No drugs have been detected from the Negombo Prison for the last three years. He has also won a Productivity Award in recognition of his good work to convert the prison into a better place.
Q: But according to information, drugs are freely available at Welikada Prison. What do you have to say ?
A: I disagree with this claim that drugs freely available in the Welikada Prison but I will not deny that there are drugs in the Welikada Prison. Drug flow in the Welikada Prison is still alive with different secret channels. I am trying my best to break these channels to make the Welikada Prison free of drugs.
Q: What are the special measures introduced to break these supply routes ?
A: We are now using Police sniffing dogs to search for drugs in the prison. At the moment these canines, which are well trained for narcotic detection, are being used to search visitors to the prison. We also use them to search all the wards three times a week. I plan to have daily search operations in wards using the Police dogs soon.
A body scanner will soon be installed in the prison. The Department is taking tough measures to detect all drugs in the prison. Apart from search operations, we are keeping a sharp eye on our prisons staff. We have already identified some of the prisons officers who are in the narcotic supply chain of the Welikada Prison.
Q: The Committee for protecting the Rights of Prisoners has recently revealed that a prisoner on death row at Bogambara Prison was badly assaulted for asking for more gravy. Is it true?
A: (He checks about the incident with the Prisons Media Spokesman, who said there was no such incident was reported.) I refute this allegation. No such complaint was lodged with any officials so far. We are not aware of such a committee which voices for prisoners.
Q: This Committee has also complained about providing food which is not fit for human consumption to prisoners while the Government allocates Rs. 280 per a meal for a prisoner. Your response?
A: I challenge anyone to show me a single incident or a media report saying that prisoners have had food poisoning due to bad food. I am happy to say nothing has happened so far. This is because the cooking is done by the prisoners and they are very careful when preparing food. Once food is cooked, it is tested by a Prisons jailor and if there is any problem with the cooked food, it will be referred to the Prisons doctor. But I agree that the taste of the food is not good as it is prepared in large quantities. What I can ensure is that the food provided by the department is upto the standard.
Q: Some human rights groups claim that prisoners are not treated as human beings. What do you have to say?
A: It is true we have lots of problems within the prisons but prisoners are not being ill-treated. The UN and delegates from other agencies visit our prisons to check human rights records. Compared to prisons in other countries, we are doing extremely well. Our vision says it all: It is ‘social reintegration of inmates as good citizens through rehabilitation’. e treat them as human beings and have several programs to change their mind to be peaceful people. There are over 10,000 inmates in Welikada and the number keeps on increasing. In a developing country, building more prisons means the country’s social and moral values are decreasing and it is not a good social indicator.
Q: You have overseen over 12 prisons; how do you propose to ease overcrowding in prisons?
A: Most of those languishing in prisons are there due to using drugs, which is not a crime. It is an addiction. But drug dealers are committing a crime by possessing large quantities of drugs. I strongly feel that drug users should not be sent to prisons and should be sent to rehabilitation centres instead. The department runs a centre for drug addicts but we are operating that centre in addition to operating prisons countrywide.
Of the total prison population, more than 60% of inmates are drug users. I strongly feel that the best solution to overcrowding is having a separate rehabilitation centre for drug addicts. This will prevent drug addicts mingling with other prisoners charged for various crimes. This is a good opportunity for them to strengthen their connections with other criminals, who will use the drugs addicts to carry out various crimes when they are released.
Q: What is the progress of shifting the Welikada Prison to Pallekelle?
A: Most of the prisons in the country were built some decades ago and they have age-old buildings. The Government intends to shift prisons in Colombo, Galle, Negombo, Badulla and Kegalle as they are in the centre of cities. Under this program, new prisons will be built following international standards.
Q: What do you mean when you internationals standards will be introduced to our prisons?
A: There are international guidelines for prisons and we will build the new prisons following those guidelines, including some of the facilities in prisons. For example, we will implement a better sanitary facility system in prisons following those guidelines. Since these prisons were built some decades back, they do not have proper sanitary system. Poor ventilation is another problem due to overcrowding in prisons.
We are going to have special sanitary facilities for differently-abled persons in prisons. We have not looked into providing facilities for differently-abled prisoners so far.
Q: How important is post rehabilitation of prisoners to make them peaceful citizens?
A: We do not have programs for post rehabilitation of prisoners. But, according to our mission, we have several programs for rehabilitation of prisoners while they are in our custody. When they first come to a prison, we offer them the opportunity of following classes to catch up their missed education under adult education programs. According to their skills and educational standards, they will be given vocational training, which offer them NVQ certificates. Changing their mindset and attitudes are the other main aspect that we seriously look into when rehabilitating prisoners. We have counselling programs and also cultural programs including art and dancing for them.
Sadly the training will not be useful to them when they are released as they step into the same environment and same society, which will not accept them as ‘changed’ persons. Although they are trained workers, no one is willing to offer them jobs as they are released from jails. Unfortunately, they have to engage in the same illegal methods to make a living. It is a vicious cycle.
Q: But don’t you think the vocational training is old-fashioned and is not suited to the modern job market?
A: Though our literacy rate is high, Sri Lanka’s unemployment rate is also high. There are a large number of unemployed graduates in this country. Therefore, we have to use these unskilled inmates with lower educational backgrounds to get into jobs like carpentry and masonry, where there is a high demand due to lack of workers. We can’t train them in the IT sector as there are lots of young people who have studied IT and are still jobless. The department can’t effort to spend unnecessarily to train them in jobs which are not fit for them.
Q: Do you have a monitoring system which keeps an eye on them after release?
A: No, we do not have such a system but post monitoring is very important to rehabilitate prisoners successfully. That is why I emphasised the importance of post rehabilitation of prisoners. The department sends the names of prisoners who have been released to the relevant Divisional Secretary office. They have their development officers, who can do post surveillance, but they have their own duties and are not keen to do this. Once they are released, it is over and there is no way of monitoring. The department is unable to do post monitoring as we are already short staffed.
Q: It is said that Prisons officials are taking bribes and engaged in corruption because of their poor salary scale. Your views?
A: Yes, it was the situation some years back. At the moment they are getting good allowances as we have implemented a good allowance system. But some are still engaged in corruption and as I explained earlier it shows that we have to change their attitudes to prevent them taking bribes. The take-home salary of a normal jailor guard is Rs. 30,000 and they are also entitled to various other perks.
I think motivation is a key to change the situation. I want to give them a good working environment. Then they will love the work. Today, most of them are serving amidst a lack of basic facilities. Unlike other officials, they need to have a stable mind as they are dealing with prisoners. I was appointed as the Commissioner General of Prisons last November. I find it very difficult to change their attitudes but I will try my best to achieve my mission of changing the mindset of prison officers to have a corruption-free prison system.
To motivate my staff, I have started giving commendations and medals to those who have performed their duties well. I will improve the facilities in their barracks to make their working environment better.
Q: There is a delay in issuing the final report on the prisoners’ riots in 2012, which resulted in the death of 27 inmates. Why is this?
A: The Prisons Department has no involvement in preparing or carrying out investigations into the incident. It is done separately by the Ministry of Justice. Two committees have been appointed – one by the former Minister of Rehabilitation Chandrasiri Gajadeera and the second by Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapaksha.
Q: What is your vision to bring about a better system?
A: I want to reduce the re-conviction rate. Today, when we release 100 prisoners, 45 are re-imprisoned shortly after release. This is mainly because of drugs. The same set of people are coming in and going back. This is a vicious cycle. I want to break this at some point to prevent young people being re-convicted. Most of their fathers and mothers are in jails for drug-related offences. The children are neglected and trapped by drug dealers who misuse them to promote their business. My main desire is to break this by providing facilities for the children of drug addicts. We have a scholarship program for prisoners’ children, so they will not be easily targeted by drug dealers. My intention is to change the system through education.
Q: How do you react to political influence?
A: I have not faced any political influence so far. Sometimes politicians request some help and we can manage our duties without heeding to their instructions. I am not a political appointee so I am not biased towards any political party. I work for the department and if I can’t do my job I will go home. I will not dance to the tune of politicians.
