Lack of prison staff -True Prisons 12

by Harshi C. Perera

(December 23, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sumithra De Silva is a 40-year-old unmarried woman. She resides at No 33, Chinamini Houses, Welimathugoda, Balapitiya.

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The Ahungalla police arrested Sumithra, claiming that they had a proper warrant to do so. According to the Police Sub Inspector, the policemen assaulted Sumithra’s head and legs during her arrest. On October 10, 2010, she was remanded to the Balapitiya remand prison. The police, using fabricated charges, filed case number 72316 against Sumithra.

There were twelve female pre trial detainees in the prison but there was not enough space for all of them. Overcrowding is a big problem in the Balapitiya remand prison. For all twelve women, there is only one toilet and one tap for bathing water. Because of these awful conditions, Sumithra was not able to bathe for the entire period she was in the prison. The other pre trial detainees complained to the officers about the poor condition of food. Sumithra was lucky though; her family provided better food directly to her.

The day Sumithra was brought to the prison, one of the other female remand prisoners had in prison with her a small child. A small insect went to the woman’s ear, and the woman yelled and asked the prison staff to take her to a hospital for medical attention. At first the prison staff refused to take her to the hospital by claiming that there were not enough prison officers to assist her. After some time though, the officers finally took her to the hospital.