The Mahara prison riot - EDITORIAL

After successfully controlling the first wave of the Coronavirus, in October a second wave hit the country, when affected persons were discovered at a garment factory in Minuwangoda, sadly, when authorities failed to recognize the outbreak during its initial stages.

Within weeks, the virus spread to all corners of the country, including prisons in the country. Overcrowded conditions led to numbers of prisoners being afflicted by the dreaded illness. Subsequent demands by inmatesforPCR tests and segregation of affected persons were not met by authorities, which in turn led t unrest in different prisons.

On Sunday (29 November) rioting broke out at the Mahara Prison.
At least eleven prisoners of the Mahara Prison were killed and over a hundred more injured in clashes with guards when attempted to bring the situation under control, at the high-security prison in Mahara on the outskirts of Colombo.

The riot which started on Sunday (29) evening continued till Monday afternoon (30). Rioting broke out when some of the inmates voicing concerns over rising Coronavirus infections among prisoners tried to force open a door and escape. According to prison officers, this prompted the authorities to use force. 

The riots occurred following rumours that prisoners from other parts of the country were to be transferred to the Mahara Prison. Initially, prison inmates staged protests demanding authorities increase the PCR testing following the surge in COVID-19 cases in Sri Lankan prisons. Prior to the riots, around 12 prisoners at Mahara were said to have tested positive for COVID-19

According to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the number of Covid-19 infections in Sri Lankan prisons exceeded 1,100. The report added at least two prisoners had died of the disease.
Sadly, this was not the first time this year that prisoners had protested the danger posed to their lives via the coronavirus. Unfortunately, it was also not the first time the lethal force had been used to stop prisoners highlighting these conditions.

In March, two prisoners were killed and several others injured at the Anuradhapura prison in North Central Province, following a COVID-19 related protest. On November 18, a prisoner was shot and killed while trying to escape from Bogambara Prison in Central Province, where more than 100 inmates had tested positive for COVID-19.

Amnesty International quoted a prison official saying 1,600 prisoners out of 2,789 inmates had joined in the Mahara riot. The official added that prisoners demanded  PCR tests be conducted on all inmates. He brushed aside the demands,  claiming most of the prisoners involved were drug addicts, who were merely using the covid-19 outbreak as a ruse to stage a jailbreak. The use of lethal force under normal law has to be authorized by an officer of the rank of ASP. 

Were rules followed? or did prison officers decide to use live ammunition to quell a protest demonstration their own? Were they simply following precedents set by the shootings at the Anuradhapura Prison and that at Bogambara where officers using lethal force on unarmed persons were not let off with a slap on the wrist.
The killings also bring to mind the shootings at Rathupaswela where lethal force was used on unarmed demonstrators demanding groundwater sources be protected from contamination.

While not trying to point fingers at who was right and who was in the wrong, one thing is clear, overcrowding in prisons was leading to the spread of the virus among prisoners.Prisoners were within their rights to make these conditions known, especially given the fact that authorities, were not taking steps to halt the march of the pandemic in prisons. It was and remains the lives of inmates that are endangered. 

It is time prison guards and other authorities remember, prison is not a place to extract vengeance, but rather a place to rehabilitate members of society who have, for one reason or another fallen by the wayside. 
Society must also remember, that most prisoners are from the poorer sections of society. Many may have been forced into a life of crime by social injustices heaped on them, over which they have little or no control.