Jailhouse rocks!

• Shootout at Kuruwita pris on kills 5 prisoners
  
• Prisoners raid prison armoury
  
• One prisoner suspected to have escaped with weapons
  

By Poornima Ravishan Wijemanne
There was chaos at the Kuruwita Prison yesterday evening (01), when several prisoners staged an escape attempt which led to the death of five prisoners. The incident took place when prisoners were being offloaded at the Kuruwita Prison on their return from Avissawella and Ruwanwella courts.

One of the suspects, reportedly, in possession of a hand grenade, had tried to grab a jailor’s firearm, detonating his grenade but harming none.

During this incident, three other prisoners managed to get the keys to the prison armory and removed weapons from there, forcing the police to open fire at them.

The shootout left five prisoners dead with one injured and admitted to the Ratnapura Hospital.

When asked on the situation at the Kuruwita Prison, the Commissioner of Prisons, Major General Vajira Wijegunawardena, said, “We have the situation under control. The prisoners were associated with the underworld and this was an organised attempt at mass escape.”

Wijegunawardena also added that he had received unconfirmed information that one prisoner had fled with a weapon.

He said that he had dispatched a senior official to investigate the incident.