Hon. Dharmapriya Dissanayake
Hon. Dharmapriya Dissanayake raised concerns about threats to prisoners’ lives, inhuman treatment of new inmates, gang control, contraband trafficking, and alleged involvement of prison officers in illicit activities. He asked the Minister what measures have been taken to curb the prison “mafia,” ensure humane treatment and safety of prisoners, discipline corrupt officials, and address overcrowding in prisons.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Mr. Minister, there are lawyers in this House aware of it. I will refer the matter to you today.
¶ 02 My second supplementary: We have repeatedly seen serious risks to prisoners’ lives inside prisons. “Prisoners are also human beings,” but that principle is not followed inside. Some officials act arbitrarily. Prisoners cannot live freely; gangs inside dominate; new arrivals are treated inhumanely; some have even died. Contraband is brought in; businesses are run by inmates and, at times, with involvement of officers. While you have taken action against some officials, the mafia still operates inside. Also, prisons are overcrowded. What steps have been taken to address these issues?
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Wednesday, 8 October 2025 ·No. 22594 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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/lk/speeches/18749
Cite as: Hon. Dharmapriya Dissanayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 8 October 2025. No. 22594. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/18749