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Police and riot squads have been deployed across Sri Lanka after separate prison riots killed three inmates and injured nearly two dozen others.
Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala told parliament on Friday that one prisoner was killed and 10 injured after about 40 inmates broke out of their cells at Colombo’s New Magazine Prison late Thursday.
A second riot at Kuruwita prison, about 80 km (50 miles) from Colombo, left two prisoners dead and 14 injured, Wijepala said.
Police and special forces brought both disturbances under control. Unrest at an open prison in Negombo, about 40 km (25 miles) from Colombo, was also contained after police fired tear gas at protesting inmates, according to police sources.
Heavy police and riot squads were deployed at all three facilities. Prisoners who had climbed onto rooftops or moved into open areas were returned to their wards, the minister said.
Sri Lanka’s prison system faces severe overcrowding, with more than 41,000 inmates held in 22 prisons designed for about 11,000 people. More than three-quarters are remand prisoners awaiting trial, many on narcotics-related charges.
“We have controlled the situation now. There are no concerns about security,” Wijepala told lawmakers, adding that the incidents appeared to involve possible planning or sabotage but that a full investigation was needed.
The latest unrest follows deadly violence at a prison in Negombo in early July, when 10 prison officials and 20 prisoners were killed. Another inmate died and several others were injured in a riot at Mahara prison last weekend.
The government is also planning constitutional changes to extend the tenure of superior court judges by two years, partly to address a backlog of more than one million court cases and reduce the number of prisoners.
