Sarath Wijesinghe, PC, Solicitor of England and Wales, Former Ambassador to U.A.E and Israel and President, Ambassadors Forum

Prisoners are also Human Beings”

They are caged against his wish as deterrent or punishment of a crime or wrong doing against the state of the society

A prisoner is any person deprived of his or her liberty against his or her will” – definition

There are prisoners in state institutions all over the world for committing crimes for violating law against the legislature. Philosophically, prisoners are those who are in this position due to their impatience and also revengeful nature to others resulting in being committed to prison by the rulers.

The quotation on Dhammapada in Stanza 4 and 5 are relevant to these unfortunate people and the in the situation. He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me, in those who do not nurse such grudges hatred will cease”.

Stanza 5   In this world hatred never ceases by hatred, but ceases by love alone.” This is an eternal law.

These quotations are philosophical and religious but practical to be used in day-to-day life in correct approach and correct thinking. If citizen follows these stanzas the prisons would be empty but unfortunately when the state is unjust and citizen is for corruption crime and wrong-doings prisons are filled with those who do wrong-doings.

Prisoners world over are caged in closed compartments with non-freedom and basic amenities. Well known in the world are the USA prison Alcatraz, now closed down, and Guantánamo Bay is confined to hardcore criminals, mainly for murder and treason. In the Republic of Sri Lanka the prison system continues on the British model with prisons managed by the Ministry of Justice directly coming under the responsibility of the Minister. And the recent prison riots in Negombo and Mahara reminds us of prison riots in Sri Lanka USA, UK and other countries showing serious incidents previously. Prison riots are a common occurrence when human beings are caged in prisons like animals in spite of the fact that Sri Lanka prisons carrying the motto that Prisoners are human beings”.

The two recent prison riots in Negombo and Mahara are cruel, gruesome and inhumane in the manner in which the killings were executed. Thereby it is doubtful whether a normal human being can resort to killing of other humans of that level unless they are insane, intoxicated or drugged.

It is a known fact that undoubtably then rulers of the country that prisoners use drugs, hard liquor, mobile phones and all kinds of illegal material despite the presence of jail guards and iron fences around prison perimeter. Corruption is set in in prisons as elsewhere in the country. It is a sorry state that the underworld kingpins and criminals operate in prisons freely giving orders to outsiders including operating the network of crime and drugs. After the recent massacre in Mahara and Negombo Minister of Justice who happens to be a Barrister at Law in the UK and the spokesman of JVP on legal affairs has taken the full responsibility of both riots survived a No Confidence” Motion by a part of the legislature requesting him to resign. As a Barrister at Law he should be well aware how a Minister in the UK would have acted in such circumstances. Now he is busy with the extension of the service of Chief Justice and other judges of higher courts by two years for reason best known to the governance. Some member of the legislature alleges that it is for the repetition of the extension of the government for a further as done by the former President J.R. Jayawardene. It is to be noted that the referendum then extended the parliament denying election which gave space to JVP for revival of the insurrection in 1988 and LTTE to take arms and continue with a thirty year war. We must learn from history and some say that history repeats and absolute power of any government is disastrous. Now people have given to the legislature with 159 members and they should not presume that they can do anything with the majority in order to take to country to ruin if not properly used power based on accept norms, based on Rule of Law and take ten golden of governance followed by just kings in SL.

The consecutive ways of uncontrolled prison violence in SL is an indication the lack of governance skills in the legislature and inefficiency of the Minister of Justice who is now spear-heading the extension of period of CJ and others by two years for reasons confined to the governance which a strongly opposed by the BASL and Maha Sangha. The Head of State who met the Rev. Malwatta Mahanayaka Thero at a rare meeting when he was advised by the Sangha not to proceed with the constitutional amendments. But we are informed that the cabinet has approved the amendments which will be presented to the parliament shortly.

Returning to the topic of the prisoner, is a sad situation that we see of overcrowding prisons to the extent that prisoners are compelled to sleep in toilets. Prisoners jailed for minor offenses band awaiting bail are in areas together with hard core prisoners. It is dangerous as a it is training ground for these prisoners to by hard criminals in the same premises. The responsibility is on the Minster of Justice who has openly accepted it. He may seek advice from the OPA and BASL and senior lawyers because returned to Sri Lanka recently and not gone through process to understand the legal and political systems here. We have read propositions by learned professionals to tag the prisoners with a central connection tracking system. Also it is proposed to make use of them in development projects, agriculture industry as money spent on them for food and security is enormous. These are steps taken in some other countries and it is time for us to adopt those successful operations in our country as well.

There is no guarantee that there will be no more riots because the situation has not  changed, and no further steps have been taken to correct the situation as well. Therefore, it is the duty of the Minster of Justice who is a strong stalwart and the person who represent the legal affairs of the governance, to take immediate steps to correct and the contain the situation to prevent further jailbreaks with the help of relations of inmates.,

The powerful gang leaders underworld leaders and drug mafia shelter in prison as a safe haven which is a center to distribute crime to the country. It is noted that there is no time to criticize or await help from others. It is the duty of all legislature to rally around the government who is mighty powerful with 159 members who appear to be in the impression that they can do anything with the majority power but sadly  NO”. They must have a strategy, aim and a vision to settle this minor wave of uprising in prisons that can ignite and explosion which all of us must try to prevent. The people of the country has given power to an incompetent group of people must think this is our country and all citizens must unite to prevent the impending disaster to be faced by all citizens in the future of this beautiful nation. Authur C. Clerk had declared this nation as a compact universe in the Indian Ocean which is not found anywhere in the globe.

It is ironical that the drug  mafia has taken safe haven in the prison and is conducting it’s criminal and drug network with blessings of some of the staff who are also inefficient. And it is sorry state that the Minister in charge of the prisons have not taken overcontrol and adopt measures to clamp down availability and usage of drugs in the prisons.