Sri Lanka prison riot kills one inmate, police say
At least one inmate was killed and six others were taken to hospital after a riot on Saturday at Mahara Prison outside Colombo, Sri Lankan police said.
Police said additional units were sent to the high-security prison after rioting began on Saturday morning. A police official said Special Task Force commandos were sent to guard the perimeter but were not deployed inside.
An AFP photographer outside the prison saw two truckloads of soldiers deployed along with police commandos.
The violence came about a month after clashes at another overcrowded jail killed 10 guards and 21 inmates. Authorities announced plans after the early July Negombo riot to convert disused state buildings into prisons, but those additional prisons have not yet been commissioned.
Sri Lankan official figures cited by AFP show prisons operating at roughly four times their intended capacity. Rioting at Mahara Prison during the Covid-19 pandemic in December 2020 killed 11 inmates and wounded 117, after which the government released hundreds of inmates from overcrowded jails.
Uncertainty notes
The cause of the Mahara Prison riot was not stated.
Police gave the casualty account as seven wounded prisoners removed from the jail, with one later dying; the public count is at least one killed and six hospitalised.
Source
AFP news report published on .