1,000 tri-forces officers as prison guards

As an immediate measure to control the recent unrest that developed in prisons across the island, the government has decided to recruit 1,000 recently retired tri-force personnel as prison guards. In addition to this, steps have also been taken to establish Special Task Force (STF) units in all 32 prisons located across the country.

With the aim of preventing violent incidents occurring in one prison from spreading to another, special coordination committees, representing the Department of Prisons, the Police, the Tri-Forces, and intelligence agencies, are scheduled to be established in every prison in the coming days. These committees will actively exchange information among themselves and work to prevent a recurrence of incidents similar to those that occurred in recent weeks.

These decisions were reached during a special meeting chaired by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to discuss the problematic situation within the prison system. The discussion was attended by Minister of Public Security Ananda Wijepala, Minister of Justice Harshana Nanayakkara, Secretary of Defence Sampath Thuiyakontha, Inspector General of Police Priyantha Weerasuriya, and officials from the State Intelligence Service (SIS).

Due to the current shortage of prison guards, it has been decided to immediately recruit military retirees, and those selected are expected to be deployed after a short training period. The Ministry of Justice is taking necessary steps to expedite this recruitment process.