The new crime-busting initiative ‘Yukthiya’ is contributing to the pressing issue of overcrowding in prisons, despite authorities hailing arrest numbers as a success.
The brainchild of Public Security Minister Tiran Alles and spearheaded by Acting Inspector General of Police Deshabandu Tennakoon, over 10,000 suspects have been arrested since the launch of the operation to crack down on narcotics trafficking and underworld activities.
While acknowledging that prisons had been overcrowded for a while, Police Media Spokesman Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Nihal Thalduwa told The Sunday Morning that he could not comment on how the ‘Yukthiya’ operation would impact this situation.
“If we focus on the issue of prison overcrowding, we will not be able to find an answer to the drug issue. While prison congestion has to be managed, we have to continue raids on our part.”
Increase in inmates
Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Department of Prisons Spokesperson and Prisons Commissioner (Rehabilitation) Gamini B. Dissanayake acknowledged that there had been an increase in inmates recently following the launch of the ‘Yukthiya’ operation.
“A decision has been made to relocate those who are convicted to open prison camps [to alleviate the pressure on conventional prisons]. Moreover, unused spaces and buildings belonging to the Department of Prisons will be used for inmates.”
Further addressing measures to address overcrowding in prisons, he noted: “At a meeting held today (27), the Commissioner General instructed to construct temporary facilities that could be built immediately. For next year, we are planning to repair and use certain buildings which are currently in a dilapidated state.”
Dissanayake further noted that there had been no significant epidemic reported at any of the prisons, apart from the recent outbreak at the Matara Prison which had been brought under control, adding that should there be any spread of disease, action would be taken based on instructions of health officials.
Severe overcrowding
The Yukthiya operation comes in a backdrop of severe overcrowding of prisons, with a staggering 30,498 incarcerated as of 27 December, according to the Prisons Department.
According to a National Audit Report (NAO) released in 2023, although the number of prisoners that can be detained in the prisons as at 31 December 2022 was 11,291 inmates, there was a total of 26,176 inmates as 16,727 suspects and 9,449 prisoners under the care of prisons.
Inmates have been detained exceeding the capacity of prisons in each prison entity within the prison system and the number of inmates in each of the 27 prison entities as at 31 December 2022 was 14,124. Accordingly, the percentage of inmates which exceeds the prison capacity is 232%. This is despite the increase of prison capacity from 11,762 to 13,241, that is by 12.5% by the end of 2020.
Expenditure for maintaining inmates
The NAO defines capacity of a prison as the number of inmates that can be held in a prison with space and facilities suitable for mental and physical fitness in accordance with recognised international standards and the standards based on national legal systems, regulations, or other guidelines.
However, this has become difficult due to overcrowding in prisons. Moreover, when the number of inmates increases exceeding the prison capacity, it has become difficult to provide adequate sanitary facilities to the inmates. As per the NAO report, there was a shortage of 187 toilets in 27 prisons, and 287 of the existing toilets were in a condition of repair.
The rise in the prison population also drains Government resources, with the cost per prisoner rising from Rs. 979 in 2021 to Rs. 1,227 in 2022. As per Prisons Department statistics, the cost of maintaining a prisoner for a year increased to Rs. 447,796 in 2022 from Rs. 357,300 in 2021, while the cost of food per prisoner for a day increased to Rs. 483 from Rs. 239.
Increase in imprisonments related to drug offences
Drug addicts who are remanded have been identified as one major reason behind the overcrowding of prisons. Those remanded as drug addicts are not undergoing any treatment or proper rehabilitation aiming to cure the drug addiction.
The report notes that the increase in drug offences directly affects the increase in other criminal activities in the country. Further, most of the drug offenders are those who have been imprisoned for drug use, possession, purchase, and sale. Accordingly, a large number of Sri Lankan inmates have been involved in drug offences.
The number of prison inmates in Sri Lanka is 26,176, of which over 53%, i.e. 13,794, were inmates related to drug offences as at 31 December 2022. A total of 4,406 inmates are prisoners in connection with drug offences and 9,388 are suspects.
The NAO report identifies the reasons for the imprisonment of inmates for a long time over drug offences as: 1) imprisonment even for very minor nature offences under the Narcotic Acts; 2) non-existent or limited opportunities for alternative punishments to imprisonment; 3) having been remanded until the completion of trials for drug offences, without considering whether the nature of the offence is minor or major; 4) the sentences for drug offenses are longer than sentences for serious and violent crimes such as murder or rape; and 5) inability to consider amnesty for drug offenders.
Heavy-handed operation
In this backdrop, the ‘Yukthiya’ operation has garnered much criticism, with the Police being accused of engaging in theatrics while ignoring the actual issues.
While acknowledging that such an operation to suppress illegal activities was welcome, Committee for Protecting the Rights of Prisoners (CPRP) Executive Director Senaka Perera pointed out that this operation was being undertaken by the same Police force which had been accused of complicity in the custodial deaths of inmates arrested over the alleged charge of being in possession of drugs, namely the case of Preethi Kumara at the Police Narcotics Bureau in January, bringing the integrity of the operation into question.
“Our stance is that this operation shouldn’t be brought to the level of theatrics for the benefit of the media,” he said, questioning how the Police had been able to make these sudden arrests under the ‘Yukthiya’ operation without previously acting on this information, which had to have been known prior to the operation.
Criticising the ambit of the operation, he said: “It appears that the operation is not targeting high-level figures involved in narcotics. We’re not saying to not arrest users, but attention should be paid instead to high-level drug dealers engaged in large-scale drug trafficking.”
Similarly, former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka Ambika Satkunanathan too was critical of the operation’s scope and tactics: “The Government has always adopted a militarised, punitive approach to the drug problem. What this entails is focusing mostly on the users and people who are at the lower end of the drug trafficking, drug dealing hierarchy. Clearly, the people who are doing the trafficking are not being targeted. People who have been arrested for drug offences have been killed in custody or in shootouts, which are extrajudicial killings. We have not seen any investigations into that, and no one has been held accountable either.”
Moreover, Satkunanathan pointed out that the integrity of the operation was marred by the conduct of the State security apparatus itself: “A few years ago, a large number of Police officers working at the Police Narcotics Bureau were arrested because they were running a drug trafficking ring. Since then, in the last three years, we have seen Police officers arrested for using and dealing drugs, etc.”
“In the north, for instance, we see a large concentration of military camps, presence, and military intelligence, which seem to know what civil society is doing, what the mothers of the disappeared are doing, when they’re going to hold protests, etc. Do you expect us to believe that they don’t know who is trafficking the drugs, who is distributing it, and who is selling it?” she questioned.
Noting that this made the entire Government security apparatus appear to be farcical and ineffective, Satkunanathan pointed out that this operation was no different.
“In this operation they’re targeting the poor areas. These are arbitrary searches of large areas that are not targeted, clearly not based on reasonable suspension or evidence. They seem to be using violence during searches and arrests and failing to adhere to due process. This also results in prison overcrowding, and further deterioration in inhumane prison conditions.”
Problems caused by overcrowding
Perera noted that the ‘Yukthiya’ operation would contribute to the overcrowding in prisons, a long-time concern that required immediate attention.
“There should be a proper plan regarding incarceration in this regard, since the congestion in the prison system has increased significantly. Incarcerating those nabbed in this operation means that it will aggravate the congestion, causing problems to the existing inmates as well,” he said, addressing the impact of the ‘Yukthiya’ operation on congestion in prisons, noting that there needed to be a proper method in order to ensure that the dignity of prisoners could be safeguarded.
“Overcrowding the prisons constitutes an additional punishment for these inmates, since not only are they convicted, but residing in these prisons will be another form of punishment.”
Minimising overcrowding in prisons
“The Prisons Ordinance contains provisions for a review process for prisoners, where they can reduce their sentences based on good behaviour, after which they can be released. If this process is followed, a significant number of the approximately 30,000 inmates currently incarcerated could be reduced. The issue is that this review process is not being undertaken effectively,” Perera pointed out, noting that this process would both reduce congestion and allow for rehabilitation of prisoners through their reintegration into society.
“There is also a danger that diseases could spread given the congestion. Prisoners should have the space to exist as humans.”
Satkunanathan noted that the ‘Yukthiya’ operation was sending persons to compulsory drug treatment, which did not work and was a human rights violation. “What is required is harm reduction and community based voluntary treatment and support. The ‘Yukthiya’ operation is also hindering the social reintegration of people who had previously been to rehabilitation centres as they are being arrested during this operation, although at the time they had no drugs in their possession. This means these people are not being allowed to reintegrate into society. They’re being stigmatised and criminalised, which means this cycle is going to continue.”
Noting that the overcrowding of Sri Lankan prisons is due to systemic and structural reasons, she said: “People who can’t pay fines are imprisoned, which is criminalisation of poverty. Drug users are imprisoned. In Sri Lanka, bail has become the exception rather than the norm, so we have a large number – around 60% – of pre-trial detainees.”
Expanding prison capacity
Meanwhile, Perera noted that measures to increase space in prisons or develop the system were slow, especially considering that Sri Lankan prisons continued to fill up. With increasing numbers of people entering the prison system due to the current situation of the country, it would be best to develop the system to accommodate these numbers, he noted.
However, Satkunanathan stressed that the solution was not to expand prisons, criminalise issues that required social solutions, and waste State resources, but to address the root causes: “We should not be expanding the capacity of prisons. What we need to do is tackle the root causes that bring people into conflict with the law and lead to them being imprisoned. We must tackle the root causes so that we can shut down prisons. Prisons are institutions you need to close.”