By Sarah Hannan With the recent prison raids exposing the corruption within the prison system, it seems like the country’s Prison Department is being turned inside out in an attempt to dismantle various activities that are nurturing this corruption. With President Gotabaya Rajapaksa expediting the prison reforms and rehabilitation measures by changing the top management of the Department of Prisons, The Sunday Morning sat with the newly appointed Commissioner General of Prisons Thushara Upuldeniya to discuss the way forward in reforming and rehabilitating the 200-year-old prison mechanism. Excerpts of the conversation follow: Overcrowding is an issue in many prisons; what measures are in place to address this? In all the prisons, the overcapacity is about 173%; if we are to consider the prisons in the Colombo District, the overcapacity is about 300%. The facilities built and refurbished in Dumbara, Boossa, and Angunukolapelessa were to reduce this overcrowding. If we are to compare the overcapacity within the prison system five years ago, which was at 250-300%, to the situation now, we have been able to reduce it to 173%. However, this should be further reduced to facilitate the inmates in a favourable environment. The overcrowding is mainly an issue at remand prisons, where inmates do not have a proper place to sleep and lack basic hygiene facilities. This has given rise to a hierarchy within the prison wards where a group of inmates are held. The inmate with a lot of influence will try to buy the officials and then get new prisoners to undertake various tasks for them. It is within these environments that rehabilitation programmes are difficult to implement, and addressing deep-rooted corruption is going to be a challenge. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has issued clear instructions to reform the administrative and operative mechanism within the Prisons Department. What are the challenges that the Department would face once the reforms are put in place? The President’s instructions can be exercised after all our officers are sent for relevant training sessions. We also need to look at providing them with the necessary skills and tools to carry out their duties in an effective manner. That would definitely help in restructuring the administrative and operative mechanism. Countries such as Thailand and Malaysia introduced prison system reforms about three years ago and today, they are recognised as a correctional service. From the moment they recruit a prison guard, their careers progress in a professional manner. Such training enables them to professionally handle situations of influence or threats that are presented at any moment. We understand that over the coming days, our officers will have to brace themselves for various threats that will come from within the prison system as well as from outside parties. Prior assessments will be made and under the supervision of the Ministry of Defence, we are looking at increasing the security detail for the officers concerned. Already, security details have been buffed for certain prison officials. There have been several images circulated on social media of some prison cells being converted into rooms with beds and refrigerators. How did that happen? This environment has been created due to the failures in following international conventions. We have to look at it in a humane way, with due consideration given to the quote “innocent until proven guilty”. Our Prisons Department is still ruling on a 200-year-old mechanism. If we look at prison services in other developed countries, each prisoner is to be given a single cell with the basic amenities such as a bed, wash basin, and a toilet with water supply. But we do not have these facilities and instead of having single cells, what we have are wards which accommodate, in a worst-case scenario, around 100 inmates. The photos that you saw were from a remand prison, where inmates await their court hearings and are yet to be sentenced for their alleged crimes. The longer they have to spend in prison awaiting their sentence or for the chance of going home, if they are proven innocent, the more they find ways to bring in mattresses, a mini fridge, etc. The recent raid was carried out after a new superintendent of prisons  was appointed to the said remand prison. He requested that the raid was conducted so that the cells could be cleaned. There are also incidents where a family member try to smuggle in a mobile phone, a SIM card, or drugs inside food parcels. So, when these activities take place, it is difficult for us to impose the regulations. Society has a massive responsibility to assist the Prisons Department in rehabilitating these inmates. Once we adopt and refurbish our prisons according to international standards, this will be stopped. The superintendent of prisons, in charge of the respective institution, is to take responsibility to ensure that the same activities will not be allowed after raids are conducted and items are confiscated. What measures will be in place to clean out the prisons from the drug mafia that is allegedly being run from within the safety of the prisons? The country will have to consider maximum security prisons given that there are drug empires continuing to grow although the drug kingpins are already serving life sentences. The inmates that are imprisoned for drug-related activities have begun to rally around these drug kingpins and have helped them to expand their distribution networks outside. In the coming months, there will be moves to separate such groups that have gathered within the prisons. We are also looking at assigning these convicts to a mental rehabilitation programme, so they would be counselled by a therapist. Strict measures will also be taken against inmates, outsiders, and prison officials that are aiding them from within the prison system. Does the Department need to invest in body scanner machines, so that visitors, prisoners, and staff are scanned when entering or exiting the premises? The Department has already purchased several body scanning machines and we have put them to use. In the proposed maximum security prisons, we will have strict body search measures in place, which will be compulsory for all prison officials and visitors before entering the premises. A scanner machine is already put to use at the Angunukolapelessa Prison, where the STF (Special Task Force) detected an inmate who had attempted to smuggle in five mobile phones. As an experienced officer, are you satisfied with the rehabilitation programmes for drug users and grave crime convicts that are currently in place? What programmes will you overlook in your tenure? The Department of Prisons needs to look at reforming the system of handling the prisoners as well. At present, we have a sentencing system and low prominence is given to ensure the mental wellbeing of an inmate, especially that of a first-time offender. We need to have facilities where the inmates are able to communicate with their families at least once a week. This was especially thought about during the lockdown period as visits were prohibited. At the moment, only the Welikada Prison Complex has that facility. We are looking at making the “call home” facility available at all prisons in the future, so that the inmates are able to communicate with their families once a week under stipulated conditions. We might not succeed in eradicating the use of drugs or use of mobile phones within the prisons, but if we apply the methods that have been followed by the rest of the world in turning our Prisons Department into a correction service, we will be able to impose regulations up to about 95%. New technologies and methodologies will need to be adopted. There are several drawbacks within our Department. We need to continuously update the surveillance devices that are in place. We are dealing with masterminds and they are always two steps ahead of us in their thought processes. Therefore, our officers too need to be able to closely monitor their movements and observe their behaviour. We are to also look at mental rehabilitation programmes for inmates that are serving life sentences and long sentences. In addition to that, prisoners will also be subjected to therapy sessions, so when they are finally free to go home, they will not be in that criminal mindset or relapse into old habits of drug abuse and petty crime. We are looking at closely working with universities and mental health experts to rehabilitate and improve their self-confidence, so they could be reintegrated into society in an effective manner. Furthermore, according to international conventions and the rights of prisoners, we are bound to provide one cell per inmate and give them the basic facilities. All these need to be taken into consideration when reforms are proposed for the system. If not, the corruption will continue to take root no matter how often the management is changed.