A dispute over drug smuggling inside one of Sri Lanka’s most overcrowded prisons sparked the deadly riot that killed 26 people and injured dozens more, the country’s justice minister said Tuesday, as authorities continued investigating one of the worst outbreaks of prison violence in recent years.
The violence unfolded over two days at Negombo Prison, located in the coastal city about 35 kilometers (20 miles) north of the commercial capital, Colombo. According to Sri Lankan authorities, 26 people were killed, including seven prison officials, while roughly 100 inmates and prison personnel required hospital treatment after the clashes.
Justice and National Integration Minister Harshana Nanayakkara told Parliament that preliminary investigations indicated the unrest began after several inmates informed prison authorities about attempts to smuggle narcotics into the facility.
According to the minister, those disclosures angered another group of prisoners allegedly involved in supporting the drug trafficking operation, triggering a confrontation that quickly escalated beyond the control of prison authorities.
“This had angered a second group of inmates who were supporting the smuggling. This was what started the clash,” Nanayakkara told lawmakers.
The minister said prison officers attempted to intervene to restore order, but the situation rapidly deteriorated as prisoners attacked security personnel using bricks and metal poles.
“When prison officials attempted to intervene it had escalated. Prisoners attacked prison officials with bricks and poles. Prison officials fired in self-defense,” Nanayakkara said.
Authorities are still attempting to determine how inmates obtained weapons during the riot.
“At the moment we are unaware of how prisoners got possession of weapons. Investigations into these details are ongoing,” the minister added.
Investigators are also examining how a small group of inmates managed to disable the prison’s closed-circuit television system during the disturbance, a development that significantly complicated efforts to monitor and contain the violence.
The scale of the unrest exposed longstanding concerns about severe overcrowding inside Sri Lanka’s correctional system.
According to the Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners, Negombo Prison was housing approximately 2,400 inmates despite having facilities designed to accommodate only about 650 prisoners. Human rights organizations have repeatedly warned that such overcrowding creates dangerous conditions by increasing tensions among inmates while making effective supervision far more difficult.
In an effort to ease pressure inside the prison following the riot, the Department of Prisons transferred 734 inmates to four separate correctional facilities early Tuesday.
Authorities said the relocations were intended to reduce overcrowding while investigators secured the prison and assessed damage caused during the violence.
The riot prompted a large-scale security operation involving police officers, elite special forces units and military personnel.
Dozens of police and special tactical officers were deployed Monday to regain control of the prison after the clashes intensified. By Tuesday, armored military vehicles remained stationed outside the prison while security forces maintained a strong presence to prevent further unrest.
Hospitals in the area treated about 100 injured prisoners and prison officials, reflecting the intensity of the fighting that engulfed large sections of the correctional facility.
The latest bloodshed has renewed scrutiny of Sri Lanka’s prison system, which has experienced several deadly disturbances over the past decade.
In November 2020, a prison riot left 11 inmates dead after unrest erupted over COVID-19 restrictions and concerns about the spread of the virus inside correctional facilities.
An even deadlier confrontation occurred in 2012 at Welikada Prison in Colombo, where 27 inmates were killed during a riot that drew widespread condemnation from human rights organizations and opposition politicians.
That incident eventually led to criminal prosecutions against senior prison officials. In 2022, the former head of Sri Lanka’s prison department was sentenced to death over his role in the events surrounding the Welikada riot, underscoring the long-term legal consequences that can follow failures in prison management.
The Negombo riot is now expected to trigger another comprehensive review of prison security procedures, particularly regarding the infiltration of narcotics into correctional facilities and the ability of inmates to organize violent confrontations.
Authorities have not yet announced whether additional arrests will be made in connection with the prison violence or whether any prison personnel are under investigation for possible involvement in drug smuggling activities.
The incident also highlights broader structural challenges confronting Sri Lanka’s prison system, where chronic overcrowding, organized criminal networks and limited resources have combined to create increasingly volatile conditions. As investigators continue examining how the violence unfolded, pressure is mounting on the government to implement long-promised reforms aimed at improving prison security, reducing inmate populations and preventing future outbreaks of deadly unrest.
