Sri Lanka’s prisons system is rotten to the core and breeding grounds for corruption and crime, according to top cops battling drugs and organised crime:
It was the recent discovery of several mobile phones and SIM cards in the Prison ward housing Arjun Aloysius, remanded over the Central Bank Treasury Bond scam that finally led to the undoing of the Department of Prisons. While perks provided by Prison Officials to certain prisoners was once an open secret, this discovery brought the alleged rampant corruption within the Prison walls out into the public arena prompting top authorities to sit up and finally take notice. But, the most shocking allegation is perhaps that the top brass of the Department had knowledge of these corrupt practices all along and had done nothing to prevent them.
At a recent seminar held on Transnational Crimes, Senior DIG Crimes, Organised Crime, Narcotics and STF Commandant M.R Latiff revealed that in the month of March an identified prisoner in Welikada had made 3,950 calls while receiving 360 calls in return even from overseas, including, countries such as, Malaysia and the U.A.E. All these calls had been made despite mobile phone jammers being in place at the Prison. “It is almost as if the Sri Lanka Telecom Headquarters is located within the Welikada Prison” the top cop quipped. Many participants wondered out aloud as to what the officials were doing if they were in possession of such detailed information.
Allegations
As the allegations such as, allowing mobile phone use, providing drugs to prisoners and rampant drug dealings from within prison walls began to mount, the Government announced its decision to implement the death penalty of drug dealers, in a desperate bid to stop the growing narcotics problem and curb organized crime associated with drug trade. The main issue that prompted the decision was the nabbing of 103 Kilograms of Heroin on July 9 by the Police Narcotics Bureau. The main agent was revealed as a death row inmate under maximum security at the Welikada Prison.
While society continues to be split on the death penalty, however, many members of the public point out that Prison officials are also to be blamed for allowing such activities to take place under their watch. “They should be hung first” a member of the public said.
While the recent controversies led to the disbandment of the Welikada Prison Intelligence Unit on the orders of the Minister of Justice and Prison Reforms, Thalatha Athukorala, Ministry sources say, investigations have now commenced into all other reported malpractices of the Department officials. Heads will roll as a result, the source said.
But, the level of corruption within the Prison system already runs deep as revealed by a prison official. Speaking under anonymity to the Sunday Observer he claimed, inmates often garner the support of top prison officials or officials working in the Prison Hospital to engage in drug trafficking from within confinement. “Without such support there can be no drug trafficking” he claimed. He calls what happens within the Prison as ‘inter-corporation’. “Either they have the political backing or are rich enough to buy the support needed and to make the necessary connections within the Prison,” he said.
Though, being sentenced to life imprisonment sounds harsh, the official said, the reality could not be farther from this. “Many are under the care and protection of top prison officials,” he said, adding that unlike prominent prisoners who are often admitted to the Prison Hospital according to their wishes, prisoners who suffer from real ailments are left to languish in their cells.
“A major drug dealer once paid a Prison Hospital official as well as a Superintendent of Prison so that he could be moved to the Mahara Prison prior to being brought back as a critical patient to the Prison Hospital,” the official said. According to him, the reason was that a prisoner could not be directly transferred to the Prison Hospital, so this trick was used to achieve his aim. Housed in Ward 3 at Welikada Prison, this ‘patient’ labelled as ‘critical’ often plays carom, walks and even engages in games of badminton. “Encountering unknown doctors he uses a wheelchair, even paying the jailers, to retain a man to push him around in the wheelchair,” the official says, adding that the total cost for services rendered to him by Prison officials amounts to a whopping Rs four million a month.
While the Prison Hospital is said to have only minimal facilities requiring the critical prisoners to be transferred to a General Hospital, the officials we spoke to claimed, those with supposed heart ailments continue to miraculously remain in this Hospital, at times, even for years till they are released.
Drug kingpins
Among the many who received this facility are the suspects connected to cases of the Prageeth Ekneligoda disappearance, abduction of The Nation editor Keith Noyahr and even the killing of the Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge. “They have the support of the Opposition politicians” the prison official accused. Drug kingpins, Gampola Vidanage Samantha Kumara alias ‘Wele Suda’ and Mohammed Wasim Mohammed Siddique are also said to be living comfortable lives within the prison walls, while the so-called VIP prisoners are allowed unlimited visits from friends and family at any time of the day as well as mobile phone use. Drug business meetings among the kingpins inside the Prison are also said to be commonplace and facilitated by officials.
In fact, sources say, the Police following investigations had informed of mobile phone calls going out from and being received by the Prison and other malpractices, to all the top officials, including the Commissioner General of Prisons, Nishan Dhanasinghe at a meeting attended by relevant government agencies and Ministry officials recently.
During investigations six convicted prisoners engaged in the drug mafia and organized crimes were identified as those making and receiving the calls. The information had included the names of the identified prisoners, phone numbers, the calls that were made from, the times, and even the number of calls made.
According to Police sources, however, no action was taken despite providing all the information needed to halt such activities. Corruption within the Department and the obvious nexus between politics and organized crime may have been the reason, the source said. “Corruption is clearly inherent within the Prisons,” the source said adding that the sole responsibility of what happens within the Prison is on the Commissioner General of Prisons. The Police also claim, jammers are often turned off by Prison officials themselves, and the cost of allowing a phone call is said to be set at Rs 2,000.
According to Prison Department sources, people outside do not understand the severity of the issue. He says, Ward 3 of the Welikada Prison Hospital is a hotbed of large-scale drug dealing, alleging that politicians, top officials of the Department and even Doctors are part of it. “Some are paid up to Rs 5 Million at a time for their support,” he said, adding that as a result, the death penalty alone will not curb this issue due to its complexity and the web of criminal behaviour.
While no drug rehabilitation programme is conducted within the walls which could help the reduction of drug dealing, instead, sources say, the drug kingpins use the Prison to recruit more drug dealers and peddlers. “They pay for the bail of those in remand for petty crimes and in return make them their peddlers outside the Prison,” he says, adding that the drug barons use this method to expand their network across the island and continue with drug dealing.
Pointing the finger at the Ministry as well as the Department of Prisons, he says, a complete overhaul of the Prisons systems is the need of the hour.
However, Prison Spokesman, Superintendent of Prisons Thushara Upuldeniya says, steps have already been taken now, to separate prisoners convicted of drug charges and underworld activities from the other prison population. According to him, officers have been appointed to ensure that there is no mixing of the two, now. As for the allegations of drugs being peddled within the Prison he claims, there are chances of drugs being brought into prisons as officers are not able to check each and every person on a daily basis. He also claimed that, the Prison officers accused of helping prisoners have been disciplined and necessary action taken.
Explaining the rationale behind disbanding the Prison Intelligence Unit, Minister Thalatha Athukorala said, there was no need for such an institution if such corrupt practices were taking place inside the Prison under their very noses. “This means, the Intelligence Unit is very poor,” she said, adding that if the Officers of the Unit had acted accordingly no such incidents could take place. As for the allegations, the Minister says, it is too soon to comment on them. “I’m trying to understand the situation inside,” she said.
But, with the situation now reaching a serious state, experts claim reforming the Prisons Department alone will not solve the issue. They say, all the agencies of the criminal justice system should come under one Ministry to better address the issue in the long term while implementing the death penalty for a few offenders would not be the solution to halt the drug mafia within the Prison walls.