The Prisons Department has taken steps to suspend three prison officers for allowing prisoners detained at the Angunakolapelessa Prison, in the custody of these officers, to escape.
These prisoners had been taken out without the approval of the prison superintendent and the chief jailer of the Angunakolapelessa Prison. The second-level jailer who sent the prisoners for cleaning work and the regulatory officer who was in charge of the cleaning team have been suspended from duty subject to a preliminary investigation.
According to the recommendations of the preliminary investigation conducted by the Matara Prison Assistant Superintendent regarding the incident, these officers have been suspended.
Ten prisoners detained in Angunakolapelessa Prison were deployed, on the instructions of the chief jailer of the prison, on September 1, to clean the outer premises of the prison under the supervision of a regulatory officer, and at that time four prisoners had escaped from custody.
It has been revealed during the preliminary investigation that the chief jailer had taken these prisoners out of the institution for cleaning purposes without the approval or consultation of the prison superintendent.
The four prisoners who escaped have pending cases in court, including one with a maximum sentence of 21 years and two pending cases. Commissioner of Prisons (Media Spokesperson) Gamini B. Dissanayake said that of the four prisoners who had escaped, it had been possible to arrest three.
The post Three prison officers suspended over escape of four prisoners appeared first on DailyNews.