SAFE-GUARDING THE GUARDS

After almost 30 years, we have once again witnessed a much worse jail riot – which had all the trappings of a deadly war. Hundreds or thousands of hardcore criminals took over Welikada maximum security prison, even going to the extent of seizing the armoury, and crack commandos had been brought into action to quell the dangerous situation.


From the way the more adventurous hardcore jail-birds behaved in getting ready for a life & death situation, gave one the feeling that this had been a well-orchestrated incident with obvious backing and help from inside, with possibly even advance notice being given to the prisoners by their guards.

It is a well known fact that there are errant guards in cahoots with drug czars and underworld kingpins serving sentences inside the jail. It is also known that these elements are running a separate underworld inside the walls of the jail armed with several mobile phones and other facilities directing their usual operations including kidnappings and killings from within the jail. So, obviously both the corrupt guards and the prisoners resist any search operations being carried out inside the jail.

Respecting prisoners’ rights as humans is one thing, but allowing convicted criminals and their uniformed associates to run the prisons according to their whims and fancies should definitely not be allowed.

If the culprits are allowed to continue committing those very crimes for which they were convicted by the courts in the first place, once inside the tall walls as “guests of the government” paid for by the public, whilst also safeguarding their flourishing illegal businesses with the connivance of corrupt government officers who are also paid with public funds, then it is far more better to dismantle this whole system of jailing offenders and use that money for something more productive.