[Sunday Leader 31 Feb 2011] In the backdrop of lawlessness in prisons, the Prisons Department will once more revert to the Defence Ministry, it’s learnt.
Prisons which was formerly under the Defence Ministry, currently functions under the Prisons Reforms Ministry.
The present level of lawlessness in prisons is attributed to the fact that it comes under a separate ministry and not under defence, as was the case formerly, with coordination between the two ministries not being easy to combat crime in prisons at the present.
The most recent case being in Anuradhapura, and previously at Welikada, when the police raided the Colombo prison, but were attacked by the prisoners with over 40 policemen suffering injuries.
Powerful underworld figures whilst in prison still give instructions to their minions via mobile phones to continue with their criminal acts, the most common being extortion, because prison authorities are allegedly not doing their job by confiscating such mobiles or SIMS or allowing the batteries of such mobiles to be re-charged, allegedly within the prison premises itself, nor jamming those particular wave lengths used by those prisoners from their mobiles to make calls outside to continue with their works of crime, thereby making the controlling of crime, emanating from the four walls within the prisons premises itself, difficult. It’s the prerogative of the prison authorities to search and confiscate such mobile phones, but those are not being done, a reason for the move to re-merge prisons with the Defence Ministry.
Prisons which was formerly under the Defence Ministry, currently functions under the Prisons Reforms Ministry.
The present level of lawlessness in prisons is attributed to the fact that it comes under a separate ministry and not under defence, as was the case formerly, with coordination between the two ministries not being easy to combat crime in prisons at the present.
The most recent case being in Anuradhapura, and previously at Welikada, when the police raided the Colombo prison, but were attacked by the prisoners with over 40 policemen suffering injuries.
Powerful underworld figures whilst in prison still give instructions to their minions via mobile phones to continue with their criminal acts, the most common being extortion, because prison authorities are allegedly not doing their job by confiscating such mobiles or SIMS or allowing the batteries of such mobiles to be re-charged, allegedly within the prison premises itself, nor jamming those particular wave lengths used by those prisoners from their mobiles to make calls outside to continue with their works of crime, thereby making the controlling of crime, emanating from the four walls within the prisons premises itself, difficult. It’s the prerogative of the prison authorities to search and confiscate such mobile phones, but those are not being done, a reason for the move to re-merge prisons with the Defence Ministry.
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