- Cites lack of prior risk evaluation, tactical protection
- Warnings ignored as factional feuds in Wards Two and Four became a full mutiny
- Allegations of post-riot torture across 11 prisons
- Ballistic findings on gunfire still pending
- Report calls tragedy “direct and inevitable” outcome of years of neglect
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has found that senior Prisons Department management made flawed operational decisions on 6 July by sending unarmed Emergency Response Tactical Force officers and Government assessment staff into highly volatile ward sectors at the Negombo Prison, without a prior risk evaluation or tactical protection. The HRCSL said that this directly contributed to the deaths of 10 officers.
The findings are contained in its inquiry report (HRC/SUOMOTU/05/2026) on the 5 and 6 July violence, which left 32 people dead, including 22 inmates, and over 100 injured. The HRCSL concluded that the tragedy was the direct and inevitable outcome of long-unaddressed structural deficiencies, severe overcrowding and lax administrative control.
The Prison held 2,418 inmates in a facility designed for 825 to 900, operating at nearly 300 per cent capacity. Only 178 officers were available against an authorised cadre of 435, and they were routinely made to work continuous 10-day shifts without adequate leave. The Prison also lacked basic non-lethal riot control equipment, including tear gas and body armour.
The HRCSL further found that the authorities failed to recognise, isolate and contain the factional disputes that began in Wards Two and Four on the afternoon of 5 July, allowing the situation to become a full-scale mutiny overnight. It also said that no prompt legal or disciplinary action was taken against inmate ringleaders, creating an environment of impunity that encouraged further escalation.
The report noted that authorities had increasingly relied on informal inmate networks to assist with administrative tasks, which fuelled resentment among the general prisoner body. The violence began over allegations that inmates known as the ‘camera party’ were informing officials about the drug trade.
Two inmates were killed in the initial attacks.
Inmates later raided the pharmaceutical store, and the report said that the mass ingestion of seized drugs led to widespread intoxication.
Prison officers fired Type-56 rifles to prevent inmates from breaching the main gate. The authorities maintained that this was done under Section 77 of the Prisons Ordinance, while several inmates alleged direct shooting. The HRCSL said that ballistic verification remains pending final judicial medical and post-mortem reports.
The report also documented allegations of torture after the riot, when hundreds of inmates were transferred to 11 prisons. Inmates at Angunukolapellessa and Boossa told the HRCSL that they were beaten with heavy electrical cables, wires and wooden truncheons on arrival. The HRCSL recorded visible contusions and opened inquiries into the deaths in custody of K K Nishantha Buddhika Perera at Boossa and Udugama Kankanamge Sandun Tharanga at Angunukolapellessa.
The HRCSL recommended to the Prisons Commissioner General and the Justice Ministry that the 2018-2020 National Prison Study be implemented in full, in line with the Nelson Mandela Rules. It also called for a joint committee to prepare a roadmap for reducing overcrowding, accelerating bail hearings, expanding non-custodial sentencing and ending informal inmate governance.
It further recommended criminal investigations under the Penal Code of all inmates and officers found responsible for murder, torture or unlawful excessive force, compensation for non-violent inmates harmed during the riot or transfers, and full compensation and medical support for the slain and injured officers and their families. The HRCSL also called for the immediate notification of the next of kin on the location and medical status of transferred inmates.