The Three Member Commission appointed to investigate into the Prison bus shooting near the Kalutara Prison, has asked that the Ministry of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement, Prison Reforms and Hindu Religious Affairs to look into the reasons as to why the bus which was recorded to have left Kalutara Prison at 7.20 am on February 27, was still close to the Prison at 8.20am, when it was fired at.
“Where and what did the bus do for one hour close to the prison? This is something the minister needs to ponder about,” said Chairman of the Committee and former Commissioner General of Prisons, Rumy Marzook yesterday as the Committee handed over their report on the shooting to the Minister of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement, Prison Reforms and Hindu Religious Affairs, D.M. Swaminathan at the Ministry.
The Ministry had appointed a three member committee consisting of Marzook, former Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, S. Medawewa and former Deputy Inspector General of Police, Gamini Nawaratne to investigate into the shooting which targeted the killing of notorious underworld figure Aruna Udaya Shantha Pathirana alias ‘Samayan’, six other suspects and two Prison guards as they were on their way to courts.
“We went into the length and breadth of this incident and also looked into the security, welfare and transport of prisoners. In addition, the system of communication between Prison officials and judicial officers as transport is very vital information,” Marzook said.
Medawewa presenting the highlights of the report, explained that the Commission spoke to Prison officials, prisoners, one of the wives of Pathirana and the Police to garner information for their report.
“The story seems like a fiction, but I assure you the report is not fictitious,” he said.
Their recommendations have been categorized into immediate action the Department could take, action that needs to be taken in association with other agencies and long term measures.
“We found that on that particular day, a few officials had gone on leave without prior notice, which needs to be investigated. At the same time, those who had gone on maternity leave were marked as those who had not given notice. In addition, Pathirana was not wearing handcuffs and had jewellery on him,” Medawewa said.
He stressed that the committee was not to formally inquire into the matter, but to find facts and make recommendations to prevent such incidents happening in the future.
In their recommendations, they found lapses by the Prisons Department in terms of security provided to prisoners and that various illegal activities were continuing unabated within the Prison itself.
“The prisoners are well connected to the outside world and used sophisticated devices. There were also cases of money transactions, prisoners forming groups inside the prisons and dealing with the underworld,” he added.
Medawewa stressed that the Prison Security Unit had to be further strengthened along with intelligence and security assessments of suspects done. “How did Pathirana’s information leak? The shooting was very well executed, done at a narrow point in the road and the Prison officials even thought it was the Police shooting at them,” he said.
The Committee has thus recommended coordination of security and intelligence matters of the Police and Prisons and for the Prisons and Police to have a contingency plan in case of such emergencies.
“It is important to have liaison of Police intelligence, Prisons intelligence and Military intelligence, along with a direct link with the CID, with coordination between the Department of Prisons, Police Department and their line ministries, Ministry of Justice and the Judicial Services Commission,” he said.
They have also proposed amendments to the administrative procedures and legal provision with Section 39 (4) of the Ordinance amended to facilitate the District Judge or a Magistrate to be a visitor at any prison where a person remanded by him is in custody.
“A special court system or a domestic court system should be established in the prisons to determine the cases of high profile characters,” have also been proposed so that dangerous criminals need not be transported far away from Prison.
In addition, the Committee had asked that Prison officials be trained in combat similar to military training and the department be upgraded so that it meets the “expectations of disciplined uniformed services.”
They have also asked that a 100 personnel consisting of a sophisticated elite force be established to deal with such situations in future.
Minister Swaminathan in turn, said he hoped to implement the recommendations as soon as possible and questioned as to why Prison Commissioners had failed to curb illegal activities within prisons. He also said that strict action would be taken against any Prison official found guilty of colluding with criminals.