Prison reforms
Scanners are to be
installed in our prisons to prevent the smuggling of
unauthorized items and articles into their precincts to reach
prisoners. The experiment will commence from Welikada and then
tried in other prisons in the country depending on the
availability of funds according to our front page report
yesterday. The move is an appropriate one considering the many
stories emanating from behind the walls of our prisons. But will
scanners alone stop the rot?
It is no secret that today, our prisons are a veritable home
away from home to many inmates, particularly the wealthy and
influential. The media frequently highlights the shenanigans
that go on behind the four walls of our prisons. It is not only
drugs and booze and mobile phones that are smuggled into our
prisons. All creature comforts of influential prisoners are
catered to today giving expression to the famous rhyme "Stone
walls do not a prison make nor iron bars a cell".
It is also well-known that underworld figures continue with
their rackets long distance while behind bars and there was the
famous instance of a notorious drug lord being shipped out of
prison and back to attend to urgent business. There are also
tales of conclaves of criminal groups inside prisons planning
and plotting escapades outside the prison walls. According to a
recent news report, it had transpired that orders were issued
from prison by a leader of a gang to bump off a rival.
Therefore, it is clear that installing scanners to check
incoming contraband is not a mirale for the canker afflicting
our prisons which is much more varied, complex and widespread.
If at all it would only be a temporary deterrent. It will be
business as usual before long. Therefore, what is required is a
complete overhaul of our prisons going into the very bowels of
its subterranean life. A determined effort has to be made to
reform the entire prison system. Piecemeal solutions would not
suffice as has been proved.
Our prisons today stand out as the epitome of corruption and
sleaze despite the many attempts made to reform the system. It
is no exaggeration to say where the potential for corruption is
concerned the prisons rank high among the State institutions.
For, those at the helm are the law enforcement officers over
whom there is little or no supervision leaving them to their own
devices. Therefore, whatever device installed to prevent
unauthorized items entering prisons will be of little use in the
absence of a proper supervision authority.
Our prisons are so beyond the pale today that even outside
agencies entrusted with the task is bound to be sucked into the
underbelly of prison life.
It is also necessary to separate known criminals from
first-comers, especially youth who find themselves locked up for
petty offences on suspicion. Needed also are more rehabilitation
programs to wean them away from the path of criminal activity.
The Government should also take measures to overhaul our
prisons and make them more habitable and congenial to its
inmates. It should also find a quick solution to overcrowding in
prisons. Prisoner rehabilitation should also meet with the
modern demands enabling those offenders to rehabilitate
themselves quickly and enter society as worthy citizens.
Certain prison houses in the outstations are centuries old
and need modifying. Sri Lanka too should try to emulate
countries which are now gradually shifting away from the concept
of prisoner confinement and making prisoners undergo a semblance
of a community life in the open. This, while taking care of
overcrowding would also help prisoner adjust to society. Like
everything else our much maligned prisons too should be
subjected to change in keeping with the times. |