The turmoil which unfolded at the Mahara Prison yesterday could be depicted as a massacre where a considerable number of inmates were killed than what was reported, the Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners alleged.
Its President Attorney at Law Senaka Perera told Daily Mirror that the number of deaths reported in the media was not accurate adding that more deaths had been reported.
“It was in fact an unfortunate incident that erupted when the inmates started to complain to the prisoner officers, that it was not fair to detain the Covid-19 infected inmates inside the prison as it threatens other prisoners and therefore, insisted to place them separately.
However, the protest escalated when the prison officers employed counter-agitation over the demands of the inmates.
“The inmates were provoked by the Prison officers when Prison officers opened fire at them,” he said.
He said a total of over 200 inmates had so far contracted Covid-19 in the Mahara Prison.
Perera said they would not hesitate to go to courts over the incident and also to report to the concerned bodies in the international arena.
Meanwhile, he said there was excessive congestion in prisons which had led to a dangerous situation in terms of spreading the Covid-19 virus within prisons.
"It has been reported that the PCR tests are conducted on randomly selected inmates whereas all the inmates should be directed to PCR tests," he added.
(Daily Mirror)