The unrest erupted on Saturday during family visiting hours at Mahara prison, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Colombo. Prisoners climbed onto roofs, set fire to a building and damaged several facilities, including the prison hospital, training center and kitchen.
Administrative offices were also damaged, with inmates burning documents stored inside.
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Authorities responded by deploying additional security forces, while prisoners were moved back into holding cells and provided with food and water. A police curfew was imposed overnight in three nearby villages to disperse crowds of relatives gathered outside the prison. The curfew was lifted by Sunday afternoon.
The prison held about 4,100 inmates despite having capacity for only around 1,000, according to officials. The situation reflects a much broader problem: Sri Lanka’s 22 prisons have a combined capacity of roughly 11,000 but house more than 41,000 convicted prisoners, with thousands of additional remand detainees awaiting trial.
Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police Sajeewa Medawatta said authorities were increasing security at major prisons, particularly those around Colombo.
“Attention has been paid to increasing security at all major prisons,” Medawatta told reporters.
The measures come less than a month after a much deadlier outbreak of violence at Negombo prison, around 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Colombo. Fighting between two groups of inmates there in early July left 10 prison officials and 20 prisoners dead over two days, making it Sri Lanka’s worst prison clash since 2012.
During Saturday’s riot at Mahara, the air force deployed a helicopter and drones to monitor the prison complex as police, military and other security personnel moved to restore order.
The latest violence has renewed concerns over conditions inside Sri Lanka’s overcrowded prisons, where the number of inmates far exceeds the capacity of the country’s correctional facilities.
