Address shortcomings in prison system

Sri Lankan prisons are overcrowded, with poor living conditions for inmates and places of rampant corruption. The country’s prisons have room for 11,762 inmates at present, but they house nearly 26,791 inmates. These include 17,502 remand prisoners, of whom 10,470 are in custody for drug-related offences.  

The statistics disclosed by Commissioner General of Prisons Thushara Upuldeniya when he appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) illustrates that Sri Lanka has a long way to go to comply with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) which were adopted in 2015 by the UN General Assembly.

Though the rules are not legally binding, UN member states are expected to incorporate the provisions of the rules into their domestic laws so that prisoners are treated humanely and are not subject to torture and other forms of ill-treatment.

A study by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka in 1918 revealed that the treatment and detention conditions of prisoners fall far below the threshold of basic living standards and prisoners lack access to healthcare and opportunities for rehabilitation, because the level of occupancy of the prisons is manifold its capacity.

Prisons are also severely short staffed and hence officers are overworked and experience job dissatisfaction and mental distress, HRCSL found. COPA was told that while the Department’s cadre stands at 7,872, there are 1,663 vacancies.

In addition, most of the scanners, telephone jammers and other equipment that are needed for security are either broken or outdated while lack of staff at the Government Analyst’s Department means long delays in getting reports related to those arrested with illegal substances which leads to remand prisoners remaining locked up until the necessary reports come through.

While there is a serious shortcoming in the prison system, as with almost every other sector in the country, politicians have made a mockery of whatever rules are in place to safeguard prisoners. Lohan Ratwatte who was the State Minister of Prisons Management and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation in 2001 had no qualms about taking a group of friends and forcibly entering the Welikada Prison so that they could take a look at the gallows. He also went to Anuradhapura Prison by helicopter, summoned a group of Tamil prisoners, ordered them to kneel, and threatened them, telling them to confess to their crimes. A report by a retired High Court judge who inquired into the incidents recommended punitive action against Ratwatte but instead he remains a state minister and Police are yet to initiate legal action against him. During the tenure of other ministers in charge of the Prison Department too, there have been incidents where prisoners have been killed in cold blood but most officials responsible for such actions have got away by fabricating evidence.

Such incidents highlight the corruption within the prison system where officers are either coerced into acting according to the whims of politicians or willingly oblige to such illegal acts to safeguard their positions. There are plenty of reports of “rich and influential” prisoners getting preferential treatment within prison walls.

At the COPA meeting where Prisons Department officials gave evidence, Committee Chairman MP Lasantha Alagiyawanna recommended that they take measures to fill vacancies and address other shortcomings. He also proposed that a new Prisons Ordinance that complies with international standards be drawn up by the Justice Ministry.

“Prisoners are human beings too,” are the words written in big bold letters outside the Welikada Prisons. It takes more than mere words to improve the living conditions of prisoners. Along with officials who run prisons, society too needs to change its attitudes toward prisoners so that prisoners are not treated as outcasts but as humans who deserve a second chance in life once they serve out their sentences.