Sri Lanka plans Galle prison after Negombo riot kills 28

Sri Lanka has begun setting up a new prison in Mahamodera after the deadly Negombo jail riot. The move underlines chronic overcrowding and pressure for urgent prison reforms.

In Short

• Rival inmate groups clashed over drugs during violence on July 5-6
• A prison official later died, taking the confirmed death toll to 28
• The chosen Mahamodera site was a maternity hospital abandoned after tsunami damage

Sri Lanka has begun steps to set up a new prison complex at an abandoned hospital near the southern port city of Galle after a two-day riot at Negombo prison left 28 people dead, officials said on Wednesday.

The violence, which broke out on July 5 and 6, was triggered by a dispute between rival groups of inmates over drugs. Officials said severe overcrowding was a major reason why the clashes could not be contained. The death toll rose from 27 to 28 on Wednesday after a prison official died of injuries.

The Justice Minister, Harshana Nanayakkara, on Tuesday issued gazette notification number 2496/10 to establish a prison at Mahamodera, a suburb of Galle. Mahamodera was home to a centuries-old maternity hospital that was abandoned after suffering extensive damage in the 2004 tsunami. Officials said it would take some time before the new prison became operational.

At the time of the riot, Negombo prison, a coastal city around 35 km north of Colombo, housed about 2,400 inmates against its sanctioned capacity of 700, a prisoners' rights organisation said. Authorities said more than 700 inmates have so far been moved to four prisons in other parts of the country.

Chamika Gajanayake, media spokesperson for the Sri Lanka Department of Prisons, told reporters that more than 42,000 inmates are currently housed in around 60 prison institutions across the island nation, although their combined capacity is only about 11,000.

A prisoners' rights organisation said 12 Indian fishermen held in the prison for alleged illegal fishing in Sri Lankan waters were safely evacuated with the help of the Indian High Commission in Colombo. The organisation also claimed that a 70-year-old Indian inmate died in the violence. The government, however, officially denied that any foreign prisoner was among the dead.

Officials said the riot caused damage estimated at more than LKR 100 million. CCTV cameras, body scanners, the medicine and drug store, the main store and the administrative building were extensively damaged. The move to open a new prison at Mahamodera comes as Sri Lanka deals with severe overcrowding across its prison system in the wake of the Negombo violence.

With PTI Inputs

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