The scenes of the violent clashes between inmates at the Mahara Prison, as shown on all television channels, is shocking and horrifying and could have been prevented before it started had the prison authorities been more alert to the prevailing circumstances of unrest in all the prisons in the country.
Such a course would not have only prevented incalculable damage caused to the prison but also averted the loss of lives and injuries to the inmates.
Since the outbreak of the second wave of the Coronavirus, prisons had become fertile grounds for violence and unrest. It is not clear whether the Coronavirus alone sparked off this upheaval or there were other reasons behind the whole episode.
A high-level Committee has been appointed by the Government to probe the cause(s) of the riots and its findings should shed light on what exactly sparked off the conflagration. But it is important that every aspect and angle that led to arguably the most violent upheaval in a prison in this country, is probed.
One aspect that should draw the serious attention of the Committee is why the prisoners were allowed to go on the rampage for such a long time without intervention by prison officials. Had this been done not only would have the extensive damage to the prison been minimized, but also the casualty figures could have been less.
On the other hand, police involvement could have resulted in the situation turning uglier. But on the whole this could have been a better option than giving a free rein for criminals and drug addicts to go on the rampage.
The Mahara incident should now open the eyes of the authorities to have a fully armed police contingent trained in anti-riot methods installed in the vicinity of all prisons for emergencies of the type that occurred at the Mahara Prison. This, while preventing the rapid spread of any prison riot before it could snowball into dangerous proportions, could also act as an effective deterrent to would-be saboteurs and rabble rousers among the inmates.
There are also many questions related to the Mahara Prison riots that need answers and would engage the close scrutiny of the learned members of the Special Committee. It was claimed that the prisoners broke into the prison dispensary and fortified themselves with some 21,000 psychiatric drugs from the medical cupboards that was the chief cause for the inmates going berserk the way they did.
It is baffling as to how the prisoners, who, one assumes, are ordinary souls with only a rudimentary education and in this instance drug addicts, were able to identify these particular drugs with their labels in English on the containers with exact precision when even trained pharmacists are often at a loss to locate a particular drug from their orderly shelves within a short time.
One should also consider the statement of the doctors in charge who are now under probe that the drugs used by the prisoners were in fact sedatives, which, contrary to turning individuals violent, would make them docile.
There is also the tiny detail as to how individuals of this type serving sentences for drug offenses apparently knew for certain the efficacy of PCR tests, etc., – the demand for which, according to authorities, sparked off the Mahara riots among the inmates – particularly in a backdrop where information in this connection could not have been easily accessible to prisoners.
No doubt, the Special Committee will have answers to these and other posers that would ring plausible with the public. What is more, it is expected that a permanent solution would be found for all the ills in our prisons system with a particular emphasis on the elimination of sleaze and criminality behind prison walls.
What is needed is a clear spring clean with all the malfeasance removed, the prison underbelly ripped open and the necessary antidote injected to make our houses of correction congenial places even for those condemned men and women who have been consigned to their fate due to various factors.
There is the popular school of thought among experts and reformists for a more lenient approach towards convicts as is now being widely experimented in developed countries where prisoners are allowed a free run within expansive and salubrious confines. They are even allowed limited access to their families and loved ones – a development that has won acclaim even among the most trenchant human rights groups. Things are changing at a rapid pace under an ever-evolving world in the present day and age where practices and viewpoints of the past are being fast jettisoned in favour of changes with a modern outlook. Sri Lanka too should join the rest of them in bringing about the changes in our prison system.
