Ill treatment for Newcomers; True Prisons – Part 2

If the prisoners knew the officers then the treatment is good. Otherwise they were beaten because they were not in the order of the queue and blamed using filth.

by Harshi.C.Perera

(October 18, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Karunaratne (32) is a bachelor from Karandeniya, Galle and was engaged in the cinnamon industry. He was imprisoned on 28th August.

He was first sent to the H ward in Galle Prison and from there he was sent to the A.M.B. The prison overcrowding was a big problem in both of these wards. The sanitary facilities were very bad and it was common for the detainees to take ganja.

Before he was sent to jail he was tortured inhumanly by the Karandeniya police. He was not provided with medical facilities although he pleaded for it. But after the intervention of a voluntary organization he was examined by a judicial medical officer.

If the prisoners knew the officers then the treatment is good. Otherwise they were beaten because they were not in the order of the queue and blamed using filth.

According to Karunaratne the prison officers act partial to old detainees. The old detainees had a habit of beating the new detainees. When the new detainees complained of this to the officers they acted partial to the old detainees.

The prison officers took heavy work from the pre trial detainees. Karunaratne was in the prison for eight days and when he was released he found that he was suffering from a skin disease which he had never suffered from before.
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