In another indication that the much hyped ‘anti-organised crime’ operation ‘yukthiya’ is poorly planned, the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation yesterday said that he has had to request relevant authorities to ‘consider the objectives of rehabilitation centres when sending people to those centres’. The reminder to the law enforcement agencies was triggered following prison overcrowding, and possible negligence from the Police when they  sent crime suspects such as drug peddlers and distributors to rehabilitation centres, in place of those who abuse drugs – and that need rehabilitation support.

Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Major General Darshana Hettiarachchi earlier told The Daily Morning that some of the recent break-outs and reported violences at the Kandakadu rehabilitation centre was due to authorities stationing drug dealers and organised criminals at the facility, which is not designed to house them. It is reported that a group of individuals who are part of organised crime networks, who have now been placed at the rehabilitation centres, are trying to get control of the centres and have begun to use violence against those under treatment, for not falling in line with their demands. Several clashes between those who are interned for rehabilitation and the new group of ‘criminals’ as the rehabilitation bureau identifies them, had led to several escape attempts from the Kandakadu centre, where, the many young escapees who later surrendered to the Police, begged then not to return them to the centre due to fear of retaliation by the said criminals. The statement by the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation indicates that persons not suitable for rehabilitation have been introduced to the rehab system by the law enforcement authorities. 

With over 35,000 ‘suspects’ arrested during the ongoing ‘yukthiya’ anti-crime operation, spearheaded by the current acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), the Prisons Department, which was already facing hardships due to prison overpopulation is facing a worsened crisis situation, trying to house the large volume of remandees that have suddenly been ‘dumped’ into their care. The fact that the use of such drag-net, mass arrest tactics will generate more suspects than the State custody system can hold safely had clearly not been part of the calculation when the ‘yukthiya’ operation was planned. Or is it that those who planned it, did not care about how ‘suspects’ not proven guilty before a court of law, will be treated or housed after mass arrests?

In order to prevent clashes taking place in rehab centres, the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation has informed the relevant authorities not to send for rehabilitation to the Bureau, any person who is not under rehabilitation centres, which comes under the purview of State-run institutions under the Justice Ministry including the Bureau.  Earlier this month (on 12 January), around 40 inmates escaped from the State-run Kandakadu Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre in the midst of a clash between two groups of drug addicts. The Commissioner General told The Daily Morning that the Bureau has requested the relevant authorities to consider the objectives of the rehabilitation centres when sending people to those centres. “These centres have been established to rehabilitate drug addicts. We are not here to rehabilitate organised criminals or drug dealers, which is an impossible thing for us to do,” he said. Maj Gen. Hettiarachchi reiterated that some inappropriate persons have been sent to rehabilitation centres on more than two or three occasions, adding that some of them have more than 20 ongoing judicial cases against them. “We have requested the authorities not to send such people to rehabilitation centres unless someone is sent here repeatedly for treating his/her addictions. Here, we don’t keep anyone in cells. Our main focus is to address drug addiction. Those people with serious offences cause much chaos inside the centres. We must first understand the objectives of these rehabilitation centres,” he added. He also noted that people with serious offences must not be sent to these centres, as it disrupts the entire rehabilitation process and creates challenges to the objectives of these institutions.

The misdesignating of criminals, and their placement in rehabilitation facilities, which are full of vulnerable young drug abusers, is a worrying trend. The revelations raise the question about the accuracy of how the Police classify who needs rehabilitation, and who should be prosecuted. Why is the Police Department placing suspects who do not have drug abuse issues, and are linked to organised crimes, in rehabilitation centres instead of producing them before court and initiating legal proceedings against them? Was it a move to place a group of ‘preferred’ criminals, out of sight and ‘out of prosecution’? One wonders, given that there is evidence that there has been collusion between some Police officers and elements in organised crime over the years, could this be another such incident. Irrespective of why it happened, placing hardened criminals in a rehabilitation centre which is designed to rehabilitate and support the return-to-society process of drug-abused victims, does not bode well. Such actions warrant an independent and transparent investigation.