Prison officials think of inmates with contempt – Attorney-at-Law Senaka Perera

Senaka Perera, Attorney-at-Law, Chairman of the Committee to Protect the Rights of Prisoners, says that despite the slogan ‘Prisoners are human beings’, law enforcement officials themselves have a low opinion of prisoners / suspects. He said that there are 28 prisons in Sri Lanka and there are about 25,000 suspects and prisoners in them at present and they are not treated as human beings in prisons in any way. He pointed out that although there have been a number of murders in prisons so far, there is still no culprit, citing…

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How to build a non-violent police force?

How-to-build-a-non-violent-police-force

Police violence has become a current topic in Sri Lanka. There will be 26 illegal killings in Sri Lanka in 2020 alone, said Philip Dissanayake, spokesman for the Sri Lankan Alliance Against Torture. Police are responsible for about half of those killings. The Department of Prisons is the main agency responsible for the rest. In addition, there were a number of incidents of police torturing suspects in 2020. There were also reports of disruptions, assaults, arrests and harassment of peaceful protesters. In June, activists, including women from the Frontline Socialist…

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