One prisoner was killed and 19 injured including 08 prison officers when clashes erupted on Friday at Kalutara New Remand Prison between the prisoners who are Tamil Tiger suspects and prison guards, prison sources said.

     The dead suspect was identified as Jesudan and the wounded had been admitted to Nagoda hospital, The Island said. The prison exclusively used to detain terrorist suspects holds several hundred suspects including hardcore terrorists participated in major attacks in the North and the East and the South.
     Prison sources have revealed to The Daily Mirror that some 750 detainees have tried to attack prison officials with sharpened iron rods. They had been forced to open fire to bring the situation under control. The detainees had extracted iron rods and bricks after breaking down their toilet walls and had tried to block the vehicles carrying the injured people from leaving the premises.

     One detainee had been killed on Thursday from a riot after hearing the assassination of Kumar Ponnambalam. Mr. Ponnambalam, a well-known lawyer had appeared free of charge for detainees and mediated, representing them when disputes arose in prisons.

     Meanwhile Mr. R. Sampanthan, the General Secretary of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) has written to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga asking for full probe on the riot.

     According to The Island, Mr. Sampanthan has expressed grave concern over Thursday's killing. He had stated that a large number of Tamil prisoners have been held in detention for a long time without incomplete investigations and framed charges against them in court. He has urged the authorities to improve the condition of the Kalutara prison and drew attention to the deteriorating relationship between the prison guards and the prisoners over the last few years.

     In 1998 EPDP leader Douglas Devananda had been attacked and seriously wounded by the detainees when he had gone there to meet them.

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