Sri Lanka Deploys Troops After Deadly Prison Riot
COLOMBO- Sri Lanka deployed hundreds of troops and elite Special Task Force commandos on Sunday to restore order at an overcrowded prison outside the capital after a riot left one inmate dead and six others injured, police said.
Deputy Police Inspector-General Sanjeewa Medawatte said security forces had regained control of Mahara Prison following the unrest, during which inmates damaged several buildings inside the facility.
“We got reinforcements from the armed forces and the Special Task Force commandos to restore order and send the inmates back to their cells,” Medawatte told reporters outside the prison.
According to police, inmates destroyed the prison’s kitchen, hospital, a newly constructed rehabilitation building and vocational training facilities during Saturday’s violence.
The latest disturbance comes nearly a month after another prison riot in the same region that killed 10 prison guards and 21 inmates.
Mahara Prison currently holds about 4,100 inmates, roughly four times its intended capacity, highlighting chronic overcrowding across Sri Lanka’s prison system.
Authorities last month announced plans to convert unused state buildings into prisons in an effort to ease overcrowding.
Police said more than three-quarters of Sri Lanka’s prison population consists of remand prisoners awaiting trial, with most detained on drug-related charges.
Mahara Prison has witnessed deadly unrest before. In November 2020, a riot at the facility left 11 inmates dead and nearly 120 others wounded after security forces responded to the violence.
