A total of 61 people—suspects and convicts—are alleged to have hung themselves while in prison between 2020 and last year, according to statistics released by the Department of Prisons in response to an application filed under the Right to Information Act.
In the four years for which details have been released, a total of 631 prisoners have died in prison. A majority of them were male, with 18 females. According to the Prison Department’s statistics, most of those who died in prison custody—a total of 357—were not convicted prisoners but suspects. The Department has provided a breakdown of the causes of some of the deaths, revealing that there were a large number of hangings. In 2020, this number was 18; in 2021–22, there were 14 each; and last year, there were 15.
In 2020, eleven prisoners died in clashes at the Mahara maximum security prison, and two were shot dead during the Anuradhapura prison riot. One prisoner perished when, on a rainy day, a powerline fell and electrocuted him. In Negombo prison, one was beaten to death by fellow inmates, while the other deaths were due to old age and illness, the Prison Department states.
In 2021 and 2022, apart from the hangings, the Department attributes the deaths to old age and illness. Last year, three prisoners drowned in the Mahaweli River, which they jumped into while escaping from the Pallekele Prison in Kandy. Another was shot dead when he attempted to flee the Kegalle Prison. Another fell from a coconut tree, which he had climbed after escaping the confines of the Pallansena Prison.
The majority of deaths—203 of them—occurred during these four years at the Welikada Prison. However, they gradually decreased from 68 in 2020 to 55 in 2021, 41 in 2022, and 39 last year.
Source: Sunday times
