Court proceedings altered due to measles outbreak in 3 prisons

The cells of several courts, including the Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court, Colombo High Court, and Fort Magistrate's Court, appeared emptier and more desolate than usual yesterday (09). This was due to an urgent health risk that emerged from the Welikada, Magazine, and Colombo Remand prisons.

With the emergence of a risk of measles spreading within those prisons, the Department of Prisons had taken steps to temporarily suspend the transportation of inmates to open courts.

According to Prison Media Spokesperson, Commissioner Senaka Pallethenna, medical examinations conducted on a group of inmates who were ill in all three of these prisons confirmed that four of them had contracted measles. As there is a risk of rapid spread of the disease, the prison authorities have informed the relevant courts in writing that no inmates will be produced before the court.

Prison officials also officially informed this through a letter issued by the Commissioner of Prisons to Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga Bodaragama. In addition to Colombo, inmates are transported from these prisons to several other courts, including Mount Lavinia, Moratuwa, and Horana, and steps have been taken to inform all these courts of the current situation.

An urgent vaccination program has already been implemented to control the spread of the disease. As of yesterday, approximately 900 prison officials and inmates have been given measles vaccines, and vaccination for others is continuously ongoing, Mr. Pallethenna stated.

Meanwhile, it is noteworthy that even though inmates are not physically brought to court, they have been provided the opportunity to appear for their court proceedings from prison via 'Zoom' technology.

However, this measles risk has also had some impact on court proceedings. As the disease is present within the remand prison, lawyers have requested the court to release their clients on bail during some case hearings. The Department of Prisons further confirmed that plans are currently underway to alleviate the situation and resume producing inmates before the courts starting tomorrow (11).