DPRS: Inmates caused damages costing around Rf50 million to Maafushi Jail
Damages caused to Maafushi Jail by the inmates during Tuesday’s unrest would likely be in excess of Rf50 million, the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation (DPRS) has said.
A senior official of the jail said that the problems had begun around 9:00pm on Tuesday.
“First the inmates broke out of their jail cells and then set fire to the Water Treatment Plant, the power generators, the new jail cells, medical centre, and the new guard house,” the official said.
He said that they were making a detailed report of the damages caused to the jail during the unrest.
The inmates of the jail had on Sunday last week given the Government a 48-hour period in which to send them a figure of authority who could tell them how far ahead the Government was in keeping the pledges they had made during the presidential election.
The Head of the special Police team that was dispatched to control the situation at the jail, Superintendent Hussain Waheed, said that security cameras had captured some footage of the inmates causing damage to areas of the jail. He said that the video footage would be used to find who were responsible for the damage.
“Until we arrived at the jail, it was the security guards at the jail who had controlled the situation using water hoses,” he said. “If not for them the inmates would most likely have tried to escape into the residential areas of the island. If that had happened then the situation would have become even more dangerous that we could imagine.”
Hussain said on Wednesday that it wasn’t clear exactly what had caused the inmates to riot but added that jail officials had been receiving all sorts of threats from the inmates lately.
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