The Government yesterday disclosed that 29 mobile phones have been recovered from multiple wards of the Boossa High-Security Prison following a search operation. The discovery was made during a joint search operation conducted by the Prison Intelligence and the Police Special Task Force. According to reports a mobile phone was also found in the cell of an inmate currently on death row, known by the alias ‘Dematagoda Chaminda’. Mobile phones were also discovered in the cells of a large-scale narco trafficking suspect known by the alias ‘Wela Suda’ and organised crime suspect ‘Midigama Ruwan’.

While the Prisons department and the STF may be patting themselves on the back about the major find, the reality of such contraband found behind prison walls is that the prisons system, especially its screening and access control systems, are an utter failure. It is not only a failure of the Prisons Department but one of the Ministry of Justice and National Integration which has oversight over the institution. Nearly 30 mobile phones found in the hands of convicts who are not supposed to have them is an indication of the scale of the culture of corruption and the penetration of the Prisons Department by organised crime elements. Let’s not forget that this was not a find of one or two mobile phones, during isolated searches. The search turned up 30 phones. 

This happened even after authorities had increased protection around the Boossa Prison and at times deployed the STF to check the visitors who came to the prison. Therefore, one can commend those who led the search operation on their ability to find the phones and other contraband. However, the find essentially gives the ‘F’ for ‘Fail’ to the prison authorities about controlling the Prisons. How many times does the media report that subsequent to a search ‘x’ number of phones have been found. That means that the current prison processes are but an eyewash.

This situation is not new. It is well known that some prisons officials and jailers are in the payroll of some narco networks, and others run their own illegal ‘enterprise’ by being entrepreneurial; renting out their own personal mobile phones to convicts, at a steep rate per call/text or data use. For premium clients, like high profile organised crime convicts, these ‘telco-jailers’ provide the deluxe package; a complete modern smart phone with all the bells and whistles, with weekly or daily data plan – phone call privileges, and daily phone charging services included for an extra amount. Irony is that for ‘illegitimate businessmen’ like narco traffickers, the bureaucracy within the Prisons provide a more conducive ‘ease of doing business’ environment, than foreign investors fine working with the Sri Lankan state bureaucracy and the Board of Investments. If you have any doubts, check the ever-increasing volume of narcotics which are found entering Sri Lanka. Today, Sri Lanka is suspected to have grown from a ‘narco-use’ country, to a ‘narco-transhipment hub’, to a ‘domestic manufacturing hub’. Now, if that is not a measure of growth and prosperity in doing business (be it illegal) what is? One has to wonder, when the government that has been trumpeting anti-corruption, is yet to carry out detailed forensic audits of prisons officials, and perhaps their families, and why not segments of the Police department which combats narcotics, at the same time. 

A series of forensic audits of Customs officials, immigration officials, and even some in the prosecutor’s office may be needed to end doubts about crime network penetration of state institutions. But who will do such an audit? The CID? They too should be under scrutiny, shouldn’t they? The gaps in Sri Lanka’s law enforcement and corrections structures about integrity and ethics are showing.

For many years, many administrations, local and foreign experts, including those from the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have tried and tried again to cut off hardened narco-criminals who are behind bars, from their own networks. The efforts, including fixing of Radiofrequency (RF) Jammers to block mobile phone reception and service, has failed thus far. The common denominator in all the failures is the individual – the state employee – the Jailor and or Policeman and their administrators. This is the cycle of corruption which helps sustain organised crime in Sri Lanka, and at some higher level, they are likely to have some serious political influence or cover. In most instances, some of the first to complain about jammers being employed in and around prisons, are prisons officials themselves. 

Mr. President, it is time to clean this house, why wait, the broom and mandate is in your hands, start with the Prisons, Police, Customs, Immigration and the rest to follow.