Sri Lanka’s deadliest prison riot in years kills 26

At least 26 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in Sri Lanka's deadliest prison riot in years, after two days of violence at Negombo Prison laid bare once again the island's severe overcrowding, unchecked prison violence and long-running detention crisis.

The fighting broke out on Sunday evening at the facility, which lies around 35 kilometres north of Colombo and holds several thousand inmates, far beyond its intended capacity. It is understood to have begun amid tensions between two rival drug-trafficking networks operating inside the prison, reportedly triggered by allegations that one inmate had passed information about a trafficking operation to the authorities.

Firearms were seized from guards during the first night of unrest, sharply escalating the danger. On Monday morning, renewed fighting erupted as prisoners were being served breakfast, and AP reported that inmates turned on prison officers, chasing them towards the main gate in an attempt to break out of the facility, before police and military commandos forced them back. According to Reuters, security officials battled for two days to contain the clashes, with hospital officials reporting gunshot wounds among those brought for treatment.

The justice minister, Harshana Nanayakkara, said the first clash had erupted between two rival gangs linked to the illegal drug trade, and that those who led the violence had been transferred to other prisons once order was restored. He confirmed that inmates had managed to seize weapons during the clashes, significantly worsening the violence, and accepted ministerial responsibility. "This is an institution under my purview, hence I take responsibility. Seven prison officials and nineteen inmates have died," he told reporters. The Guardian reported that a three-member team headed by a retired Supreme Court judge would be appointed to investigate.

The Negombo Hospital director, Pushpa Gamlath, said the wounded, both inmates and staff, had arrived with a range of serious injuries. "There are some victims with gunshot injuries, some with cuts and severe bruises," she said, adding that 18 of the more seriously wounded had been transferred on to the National Hospital in Colombo.

As news of the unrest spread, women held in an adjoining section of the prison climbed onto a rooftop in protest, demanding their release. Part of the roof later collapsed, injuring several of those involved. Large crowds of relatives gathered outside the prison as ambulances moved the dead and injured, many waiting for confirmation of whether their loved ones had survived. The state deployed police, riot units, the Special Task Force, the army and air force assets to contain and monitor the situation, with drones and a helicopter flown over the prison, though armed personnel guarded the perimeter rather than entering the facility.

Sri Lanka's overcrowded prisons

The riot has drawn renewed attention to Sri Lanka's overcrowded and under-resourced prison system. AP reported that more than 39,000 inmates are held in a system designed for around 10,000, while the Guardian cited official data showing 41,250 prisoners across the island as of Sunday, roughly four times capacity.

The violence came just weeks after the Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners raised concerns with a visiting United Nations delegation over custodial deaths, torture, overcrowding and deteriorating conditions. The committee told the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, which visited the island from 15 to 24 June, that Sri Lanka had recorded 184 prison deaths in 2024 and seven custodial deaths already in 2026, and that the national overcrowding rate had reached 286.6 per cent, with some facilities, including Vavuniya Remand Prison in the Tamil homeland, operating at more than three times their intended capacity. It further noted that 65.4 per cent of the prison population were remand prisoners awaiting trial. While the foreign minister, Vijitha Herath, told the delegation that the government maintained a policy of zero tolerance towards torture, rights groups have continued to document deaths in custody, poor healthcare and degrading conditions.

A history of prison violence

The Negombo riot is the latest in a long history of deadly violence inside Sri Lanka's prisons. In 2020, 11 prisoners were killed and more than 100 injured at Mahara Prison, after guards opened fire during unrest that erupted amid the spread of Covid-19 in overcrowded jails. That violence recalled the 2012 Welikada Prison massacre, in which at least 27 inmates were killed after the Police Special Task Force launched a search operation, court proceedings later finding that at least eight prisoners had been called out by name and executed, with weapons planted to suggest they had fired on guards.

The prison system carries a particularly brutal history for Tamils. On 25 July 1983, during the anti-Tamil pogrom known as Black July, Tamil political prisoners were massacred inside Welikada prison. Thirty-seven Tamil detainees were murdered that day, and a further eighteen two days later, among them Sellarasa "Kuttimani" Yogachandiran and Ganeshanathan Jeganathan, killed by Sinhala inmates inside a high-security state prison. More than four decades on, no meaningful accountability has been delivered for the Welikada massacre of Tamil prisoners.