Sri Lanka deploys troops to contain growing prison unrest

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka deployed troops to its main maximum-security prison in Colombo and two other jails on Friday, following unsuccessful breakout attempts in which three inmates were killed and 23 wounded, a government minister said.Authorities suspect possible sabotage and a wider conspiracy as a series of disturbances across several prisons in the country appeared to have been coordinated.Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala told Parliament that unrest had recently been reported at the Negombo, Mahara, Magazine, Kuruwita and Pallansena prisons.“When all these incidents are considered together, they appear to be organized acts of sabotage and part of a conspiracy,” Wijepala said, adding that preliminary investigations indicated the immediate triggers were linked to narcotics and underworld activities.”We see a pattern in these incidents and suspect a conspiracy,” Wijepala told parliament, without giving further details.Wijepala said an inmate was killed and 10 others wounded after guards thwarted an attempt by about 40 convicts to escape from Colombo’s maximum-security Welikada Prison on Thursday night.Sri Lankan jails have been hit by a spate of unrest in recent weeks, with 10 guards and 23 inmates killed in two separate riots at two other prisons outside Colombo since last month.Officials have attributed the growing unrest to acute overcrowding. Sri Lanka’s prisons hold about four times their intended capacity.Wijepala told parliament that the situation at the Welikada jail had been brought under control, but similar unrest was reported at another prison in Kuruwita, about 80 kilometers southeast of Colombo.Two inmates were killed and another 13 wounded at Kuruwita, he said.”Security forces have been deployed at that prison too and order has been restored,” Wijepala said.Unrest was also reported at a prison in Pallansena, north of Colombo, where 30 inmates climbed onto the roof and refused to return to their cells after breakfast on Friday.Authorities announced plans last month to convert disused state buildings into prisons, but new facilities have yet to be added.More than three-quarters of inmates in Sri Lanka are remand prisoners awaiting trial, with most being held in connection with drug offenses.