- Dept. Blames STC for not cutting hazardous trees within prisons despite DSs sanction
The Prisons Department is looking into ways to reduce the use of shackles on inmates while also ensuring that there is no room for inmates to escape.
The department’s Media Spokesperson and Prisons Commissioner Gamini B. Dissanayake made these remarks with regard to the recent directive issued to prison officials by Colombo Additional Magistrate Pasan Amarasena to treat suspects with dignity. As per media reports, the directive in question had been issued upon observing that they had been shackled when they were presented to Court.
Speaking to The Daily Morning, Dissanayake stressed that the department will adhere to the Court directive to not keep inmates in shackles when presenting them in open court.
“The Prisons Ordinance has provided guidelines on how to use shackles from Sections 249 to 252,” he said, adding that attention has been paid to reducing the use of shackles on inmates in a practical manner.
Meanwhile elsewhere, the department informed that it is taking steps to remove trees and parts of trees located within prisons premises that can pose a threat. Noting this, Dissanayake said that attention has been paid to strengthening inmates’ safety following the collapse of a tree in the Matara Prison on 1 January which resulted in the deaths of two inmates, leaving over 11 injured.
However, Dissanayake expressed concerns that despite the granting of Divisional Secretaries’ (DSs) permission for this process, the State Timber Corporation (STC) is yet to take the necessary steps to cut down certain identified trees, and that therefore, this process needs to be further improved. He said that despite this situation, steps have already been taken to remove branches that can pose a threat.