Defence Secretary Major General (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne yesterday said that the situation at the Mahara Prison, which was in a state of unrest recently, is now peaceful. He said so in response to a question raised by Minister Chamal Rajapaksa at the Consultative Committee on Defence in Parliament.
Of the 2,500 inmates currently in Mahara Prison, 189 have been identified as being infected with COVID and arrangements have been made to provide them with the necessary facilities. Meanwhile nearly 100 detainees who have been granted bail have also been sent home following PCR tests, the Defence Secretary said.
The Defence Secretary further said that there were 21,000 pills of three types used for mental disorders in the drug store of the Mahara Prison. Furthermore the secretary stated and they are looking into whether the use of drugs used for mental disorders instead of the drugs they were addicted to, could have caused this unrest.