The Prisoners' Rights Protection Committee has attributed the recent unrest at the Mahara Prison to severe overcrowding, claiming that the prison's deteriorating conditions were the main cause of the violent incident.
Committee Chairman Attorney-at-Law Senaka Perera alleged that prison authorities were attempting to conceal the true situation inside the facility instead of addressing the underlying issues. He stressed that the prison has long been operating well beyond its intended capacity.
According to Perera, the Mahara Prison is designed to accommodate only 991 inmates, but currently houses 4,447 detainees. He said the extreme congestion has resulted in inadequate living conditions and insufficient facilities for inmates.
He further claimed that the prison does not provide the basic facilities required for the large inmate population, creating an environment that has heightened tensions within the institution.
erera also alleged that the unrest began at around 1.00 p.m. yesterday (01), and that prison officials failed to take immediate action to control the situation. Instead, he claimed that officers withdrew from parts of the prison premises, allowing clashes between inmates to escalate.
