TNA MP questions creation of paying facilities in prison
TNA MP MA Sumanthiran last week asked parliament whether proposed amendments to the Prison Ordinance creating paying facilities was an effort by some in government preparing comfortable accommodation for themselves in jail.
The MP said there were concerns about the proposed Prison Ordinance rules as well. The amendment proposes to strip several rights prisoners have enjoyed over 100 years. The new bill is creating categories of prisoners based on their financial status.
“There are categories and categories of prisoners, and what are the categories? Categories are those who can pay; you are creating paying wards, I heard MP Dilan Perera say this also. We can’t escape wondering whether some in the government ranks are preparing places for themselves in the prisons.
They know that they are going to stay a lot of time in prison, so they are creating luxurious apartments there already so that when they go there they can live in comfort. It looks like that.”
He said this goes against the fundamental principle that all citizens and particularly citizens who are under the custody of the state, must be treated equally.
“The conditions in the prisons are bad. The answer is not to alleviate those hardships for the few who can part with some money. That is wrong – that is fundamentally wrong, and no country should ever do that. Therefore I bring it to the Minister’s notice that those ordinances that create differences in class of prisoners must be abolished,” he said.