Hundreds of troops and elite commandos have been deployed to contain riots at an overcrowded prison in which one inmate was killed and six others wounded, police said.
Deputy police inspector-general Sanjeewa Medawatte said the situation was under control after inmates destroyed multiple buildings on Saturday inside Mahara Prison, near the capital Colombo.
“We got reinforcements from the armed forces and the Special Task Force commandos to restore order and send the inmates back to their cells,” Medawatte told reporters outside the prison.
In November 2020, a riot erupted at the facility in which 11 inmates were shot and killed, and nearly 120 others wounded.
The latest unrest came almost a month after another prison riot in the same region, in which 10 guards and 21 inmates were killed.
Medawatte said inmates at Mahara Prison had completely destroyed the kitchen, the hospital, a newly built rehabilitation building and vocational training facilities. — AFP
