THE MALIMAWA GOVERNMENT PT 4B
Posted on July 26th, 2026
KAMALIKA PIERIS
There have been three prison riots in Sri Lanka. Two in Welikada in 1988 and 2012, and one at Mahara in 2020. In July this year, there was a fourth prison riot. There was a riot in Negombo prison on July 5 and 6, 2026. This riot resulted in the death of 10 prison officers and 21 inmates, 100 inmates were injured.
The police made a report to the Negombo Magistrate regarding the riots. Police said the initial unrest began on the morning of 5 July. There was a violent clash, resulting in the deaths of two inmates and injuries to 36 others.
The clash, according to prison sources, was related to the exposure of a drug trafficking operation within the prison. One group had been engaged in smuggling drugs, mobile phones and other prohibited items into the prison while the other group had the informants who tipped off the authorities.
The protection given to this second group ended abruptly in July with the transfer of senior prison officers. This made the group vulnerable and the rival group was able to launch a successful attack on them. Two of the informants were killed.
Prison officials had alerted the Negombo Police and police were sent to the prison grounds on the evening of the 5th. 89 officers from the Prison Emergency Response and Tactical Unit, based at Welikada were also brought in from Colombo.
Police stated that inmates had seized total control of the facility and continued to hold control the next day as well. Inmates had broken into the prison armory and taken whatever firearms left there. They had broken into the gym and taken items from there, to be used as weapons. They had broken into the pharmacy the night before and consumed psychiatric tablets, in order to get intoxicated, despite the fact that only one week supply of psychiatric drugs were stocked to prevent such intoxication. Inmates destroyed property throughout the prison, including the toilet in the prison superintendent’s office.
However, ignoring all this, prison officials had come in to distribute breakfast as usual on 6th morning. Concerned inmates asked them to leave immediately. Sirla yanne , they said. Prison inmates are planning to attack you.
Police reported that violence re-ignited between 10.30 a.m. and 10.50 a.m. during which inmates assaulted all the prison staff present there. The Negombo Prison staff managed to escape through the exit. However, the officers from the Prison Emergency Response and Tactical Unit, from Colombo, who had been sent in, unarmed, to quell the mob were trapped inside, as they did not know where the exit was. Inmates attacked them. Some were beaten to death, others were seriously injured.
Police did not move in as soon as trouble started because they did not have the order to do so. That order had to come from the Prison authorities. They stood by passively till the Commissioner General of Prisons wrote to the Inspector General of Police late on 6th morning, requesting assistance.
A prison officer had opened fire through a small opening in the wooden door to prevent the rioting prisoners from escaping. Had a breakout occurred the escaping inmates would have posed a serious threat to the public.This was caught on tv cameras. In Parliament the Opposition pounced on this event, and demanded to know who ordered him to shoot. Prison officers asked the authorities to quickly give protection to this officer. That officer was given a service transfer, soon after.
The riot was brought under control with difficulty. Over 700 inmates were reportedly involved in the rioting. Inmates had broken through the prison’s main iron gate and were advancing towards the outer wooden gate. Had they breached the final barrier, hundreds of inmates would have escaped and rioted outside prison.
Order was restored in the evening, after several hours of operations. STF and Riot Control Unit had sealed off the prison perimeter. The Sri Lanka Air Force deployed a Bell 412 helicopter and a drone to monitor developments from the air. According to security sources, inmates who had seized firearms from prison officers opened fire at the drone.
The relatives of the inmates had also been informed and they had arrived in force. A huge crowd assembled outside the prison. Judging by television news, they were as aggressive as those inside and made what seemed to be the same amount of noise. They were much quieter the next morning when they heard that the inmates had been transferred to other prisons.
This riot attracted international attention. Foreign news channels promptly reported it. The Economist mentioned it. Amnesty International called for an investigation. Malimawa announced that a three-person committee would investigate the matter. Malimawa wished to close the matter.
Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara, therefore, blandly announced in Parliament that he took full blame for the incident. This was ignored, because when the riot started and Harshana was asked about it, he had said that he had not been able to check social media on the matter.Analysts wondered why, as the Minister, he did not have a better source of information. When the funerals took place, Harshana went to the houses of the bereaved, showed respect to the dead person and shed tears. Ryp Van Winkle called this ‘ham acting’. Harshana got a stony response from one young widow.
The print media energetically reported the clash. They said that the riot was due to overcrowding. Negombo prison intended for 680 inmates, was holding around 2,390 prisoners. But a study done by Namini Wijedasa for Sunday Times found that though total remand admissions were high (over 138,000 in 2023), almost half spent less than a month inside. Nearly half of all people arrested on remand in 2023 were processed, bailed or otherwise released in under a single month.
The Malimawa solution to overcrowding, was to strengthen the prison system, add more prisons. Prisons Department said it planned to open new prisons, and expand existing facilities Bogambara would be re-used as a prison and Mahamodara Maternity Hospital would be converted into a prison. Dumbara prison which could accommodate 699 persons would be expanded to hold 2,900 and would include 102 housing units for prison personnel. Critics observed that it would be very costly to renovate Bogambara and convert Mahamodera into a prison . ( continued)
REFERENCES
Derana news 14.7.26
Economist 11.7.26 p 5
https://youtu.be/E-Fyg0d945Q Ada derana big focus
https://youtu.be/gyjL2qcNBFI Derana news 8.7.26
https://adaderana.lk/news/cmrarx1s0000h356pbjn3glie
https://adaderana.lk/news/cmrarx1s0000h356pbjn3glie 7.7.26
https://dailynews.lk/2026/07/08/features/1022865/drug-trade-leak-that-sparked-a-riot
https://dailynews.lk/2026/07/14/local/1026044/negombo-prison-officer-transferred-for-his-safety
https://island.lk/prison-officers-urge-justice-minister-to-protect-their-colleague-who-opened-fire
https://www.sundaytimes.lk/260712/columns/ham-acting-649011.html
https://www.sundaytimes.lk/260712/news/fine-defaulters-fuel-prison-bulge-648876.html
https://youtu.be/4ek2Au-lQqk Truth with chamuditha . interview with Jagath Wickremasinghe