Sri Lanka police say one inmate killed, six wounded in prison riot
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Sri Lankan army personnel arriving amid a riot at Mahara Prison complex on the outskirts of Colombo on Aug 1.
PHOTO: AFP
- A riot at Mahara Prison near Colombo on Aug 1 caused one inmate death and six injuries, with police and soldiers deployed to control the situation.
- Sri Lanka’s prisons face severe overcrowding, operating at about four times their intended capacity, contributing to frequent violent incidents.
- Authorities plan to convert unused state buildings into new prisons to ease overcrowding, but these facilities are not yet operational.
AI generated
COLOMBO - At least one inmate was killed and another six were taken to hospital after a riot at a prison outside Sri Lanka’s capital on Aug 1, police said.
The violence at the Mahara Prison outside Colombo came about a month after clashes at another overcrowded jail killed 10 guards and 21 inmates in Sri Lanka’s worst prison riot in years.
Additional police units were sent to guard the high-security Mahara Prison after rioting broke out on the morning of Aug 1, police said.
“We sent STF (Special Task Force) commandos to guard the perimeter, but we are not deployed inside,” a police official said.
The official said seven wounded prisoners were removed from the jail but one had died.
An AFP photographer outside the prison saw two truckloads of soldiers also being deployed along with the police commandos.
Rioting at the same prison during the Covid-19 pandemic in December 2020 killed 11 inmates and wounded 117, leading the government to release hundreds of inmates from overcrowded jails.
Authorities announced plans shortly after the Negombo riot in early July to convert disused state buildings into prisons.
That violence intensified scrutiny of Sri Lanka’s chronically overcrowded jails, with official figures showing prisons were operating at roughly four times their intended capacity.
The additional prisons have yet to be commissioned. AFP