Sajith questions how Govt can ensure national security after prison unrest

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa on Tuesday (07) said the recent deadly unrest at Negombo Prison demonstrated the Government’s failure to ensure national security, questioning how it could protect the public if it could not guarantee security within prisons. Speaking during the adjournment debate in Parliament on the Negombo Prison incident, Sajith said the Government bore full responsibility for the deaths and injuries sustained during the violence. “How can a Government that cannot ensure security inside a prison guarantee the national security of 22 million people?” he asked. Sajith said all prisoners and remand detainees remain under State custody regardless of their legal status, making the Government responsible for ensuring their safety. He recalled that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake had previously made the same argument while serving in the Opposition. He also questioned whether the Ministry of Justice and National Integration had adequately addressed longstanding issues in the prison system, including overcrowding, prison reforms and rehabilitation programmes. Sajith said media reports indicated that nearly 40,000 inmates were being held in facilities designed to accommodate only around 10,000 prisoners, and questioned whether the Government had conducted any proper risk assessment despite the severe overcrowding. He further accused the Government of failing to learn lessons from previous incidents at Welikada and Mahara prisons and criticised the continued absence of a permanent Commissioner General of Prisons. Sajith also alleged that the Government had failed to deliver on its pledge to reform the prison system despite commitments made in its election manifesto. He further criticised Minister of Justice Harshana Nanayakkara, alleging that the Minister was focusing on proposals to extend the retirement age of Supreme Court judges instead of addressing urgent issues within the prison system. (Newswire)