A young man who came out on bail from the prison hospital told Lanka Sky News that the prison hospital is a restaurant for Duminda Silva, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, Galagoda Atte Gnanasara and Emil Ranjan Hamahewa.

He said expensive mattresses, fans, televisions, mobile phones and delicious foods are brought to Duminda and Keheiya from outside. Although a remand suspect is allowed to see relatives three times a week and a prisoner is allowed to see relatives once a month, Keheliya and Dumanda are exceptional. 

But the privileged group including Duminda and Rambukwella  can see hundreds of people a day. A patient being treated in the prison hospital is allowed to talk to his relatives for about ten to fifteen minutes, but the privileged prisoners and suspects including Silva can talk to their relatives for hours, said the young man.

These privileged prisoners and suspects are shown to their relatives in a separate room in the main office of the prison hospital, not in the visiting  section of the hospital where unprivileged prisoners and suspects are shown.

Duminda Silva, Lamahewa and Gnanasara are not suspects but those who have been sentenced to prison. Gnansara is wearing a yellow shirt and a yellow sarong in the prison hospital even though he was sentenced to wear white shorts and a white shirt. 

Duminda Silva was sentenced to death. A person sentenced to death should wear a checked shirt and a sarong but in the prison hospital he wears a white vest and shorts.

Two prisoners who are serving prison sentences have been used to look after the security of Duminda Silva. One of them is Dematagoda Milroy. The young man revealed that Milroy and the other prisoner take turns guarding Silva’s bed at night. 

“Duminda Silva is doing a great service. He pays the bails of those who cannot pay the bail. Milroy is Duminda Silva’s finance manager. If the bail amount is 5000 rupees, Milroy will give 10,000 rupees to the man who takes the surety. In addition to the bail, Jailer is also given 5000 rupees. The young man told us that Duminda Silva spent money to tile all the other wards of the prison hospital except the first ward.

The young man said while state-sponsored privileged prisoners and suspects sleep on mattresses worth lakhs of rupees, unprivileged prisoners and suspects sleep under the beds because bugs have acquired their coir mattresses provided by the prison hospital.

When the Gotabaya Rajapaksas ruled the country, Duminda Silva spent most of the nights in nightclubs and friends’ parties and there was an incident where a female prosecutor went to the prisons to see Silva and got screwed up. There is also a rumor that Duminda Silva has a girlfriend at the Colombo Prison Hospital. They enjoy those privileges because of wealth and power.

It is written in big letters on the Welikada prison wall that “All prisoners are human” But while privileged prisoners and suspects who have state support are treated highly, unprivileged prisoners and suspects are treated in a very inferior way. There is no equality there. The rights and facilities enjoyed by Duminda Silwa and Kehelia should be given to other prisoners and suspects as well. Prison is like a train. Those who have money can travel in an ultra-luxury or luxury compartment of their choice. The jail also has separate wards for the rich. “H Ward” of the Colombo Remand Prison is a ward of the elite. 25,000 rupees are charged to enter that ward. Prison sources say that the officer in charge of that ward earns lakhs of rupees a day and shares the money with the higher officials.

As everywhere else in capitalist society, the class gap is more prominent in the prison because inmates like Silva, Keheliya, the doctors connected to the Keheliya case, Gnanasara, who is a henchman of the wealthy, and government officials have special privileges. In this social system they are considered as nobles.

Duminda Silva is a death row inmate. His rights have been curtailed by law. But Sylvaya enjoys more rights in the prison hospital. He has built a lot of power among prison officials as well as among prisoners and suspects by spending money on prison reforms and bailing out prisoners. 
This is completely against the existing law. Unlike Silva, the prisoners sentenced to death are kept in a room that is eight feet long and wide. They are let out for 20 minutes a day. At first, one person was accommodated in that room, then two and three people were accommodated. Due to the overcrowding of the prison, about eight prisoners are kept in that room. Prisoners are let out for 20 minutes a day to get sunlight and kept in the hall during the day and after five in the evening they are again put back in their rooms and the doors are locked. A bucket is given to pass urine and stool at night.

Prison officers also get a meager salary. Most of the prison officials depend on the money received from such Duminda Silvas and drug dealers.

The maximum number of inmates that can be placed in E ward of the remand prison is 250. But with the so-called justice operation, around 450 inmates have been parked in that ward these days. E ward has only two toilets and one place to urinate. The young man also said that although there are six toilets between the D and E wards, they are not in usable condition and these toilets are blocked or overflowing with mosquitoes.

The tendency to commit suicide has increased due to the growing unrest among the inmates as they do not even get a chance to sleep despite doubling or tripling the number of inmates in a ward. It is said that recently a young man from Piliyandala Deniya area tried to kill himself inside the prison, unable to bear the hardship. However the other suspects prevented the attempt and then the prison officials came, beat him with sticks and half killed him and admitted him to the prison hospital.

Doctors report to the medical center of the CRP prison at 9 am. The young man said that the doctors write to take a patient to the prison hospital at 9 or 10 am in the morning, and the prison officials take the patient to the hospital at around 10 or 11 pm at night. He said that the officers beat the suspects with sticks when they ask them to admit the sick suspects to the prison hospital and there are situations when some sick suspects climb on the roof of the prison to protest, the head of the prison comes and takes them to the hospital.

Suspects coming from Homagama and Kaduwela areas are housed in E ward. That ward is controlled by Chavva, a stooge of Homagama Handaya. Chavva has a tattoo on his arm that says “Handaya my life”. In Ward E, Heroin, Cannabis and Ice can only be sold by stooges of Handaya. Despite one of Chavva’s stooge was caught with ice and drugs, Chavva was transferred to Magazine Prison. Due to this Handaya’s wife’s brother Tushara is now playing the role of Chavva in E ward. One of his stooge’s mouth was cut for tipping off Chavva’s drugs. 
The young man told us that he witnessed prison officials help to bring drugs to Chawva and Thushara. That is the situation not only in Colombo remand prison but in all prisons.

Some doctors in the prison hospital have been accused of bringing tobacco and drugs to the prisoners.

There are 32 prisons under the Prisons Department including 18 remand prisons, 04 security prisons and 10 work camps. It has been stated in the performance report issued by the prison department on September 5, 2020 that the number of inmates is 11762 according to the authorized capacity of the 32 prisons. At the beginning of August 2020, the number of inmates in prisons was 27,291 and at the end of that month, the number has increased to 29,411. If it is taken as a percentage, it is 248.5. It has been recorded as the highest overcrowding in the history of the prison. According to the report, with the so-called justice operation of the Ranil Rajapaksa government, the number of inmates who can be accommodated in prisons has tripled.

This overcrowding and lack of facilities in particular have led some suspects to commit suicide. If the overcrowding continues, it should not be surprising if the prisoners even attempt to break the prisons.