CP Munaz: Unrest within prisons resolved, prisoners now complying

Commissioner of Prisons Abdulla Munaz has stated that the unrest that occurred in prisons from January 3, 2020, onwards, has been settled and that prisoners behind the disorder have begun complying with the authorities.

At a news conference held in Maldives Correctional Services today, Munaz explained that the unrest began when prisoners of a cell attacked a nurse and corrections officers with chili paste infused water. After this, the prisoners kept on hurling things at the officers. The situation escalated when inmates from other cells also joined to attack the officers.

Munaz stated that since it was the morning, the prisoners would not have been provided with chili paste, and this led to the conclusion that the chili paste was smuggled in beforehand, and that the whole fiasco was preplanned.

Munaz stated that the first line of work was to establish if the unrest was created as a result of the conduct of officers, instead of confiscating the harmful materials and items from the prisoners.

“Our first effort was to establish the reasons for the unrest. From our assessments, we could gather that this was not because of the actions of corrections officers. They (prisoners) wanted to do something all of a sudden just for a specific reason. So, we waited and listened to why the prisoners were behaving in this manner.” said Munaz.

He noted that there were two main concerns of the prisoners. One was regarding the lack of medical care and the other complaint was based on their prolonged detention in remand without a sentence.

Munaz stated that he had addressed the first concern of the prisoners and that the arrangements for medical care would be conducted in a better way from now on.

He also stated that he had spoken and explained the difficulties faced by corrections officials in resolving the situation of remand prisoners. Munaz also stated that he had explained to the prisoners the government efforts underway to resolve these matters.

The Commissioner stated that while prisons employed doctors and nurses, issues arose when a specialist doctor needed to be consulted. He compared the situation with the prisoners with independent citizens who also face an extended waiting period to consult with a specialist doctor.

While the Maafushi health center now had specialist doctors as part of development efforts, talks with IGMH were also conducted to allocate one token number for corrections prisoners every day, said the Commissioner, who also stated that these developments have been explained and shared with prisoners leading to their compliance.

The unrest which began on January 3, was started from a single cell in Maafushi prison. It quickly spread to other cells and even prisoners of Male’ prison joined in creating chaos inside prisons.

A bedsheet was lit on fire in Male’ prison and thrown from a cell in Male’ prison yesterday. Munaz stated that the prisoners in Male’ jail had no idea what the reasons were that Maafushi jail prisoners were creating chaos. The prisoners merely wanted to join in on the act.

“They (prisoners) are now complying with the authorities. It (unrest) lasted for two or three days, but this was because we wanted to quell the unrest with dialogue. Even if we are granted powers under the law, we will not use these powers unless we are forced to.” said Munaz.

Munaz also stated that it has been 12 hours since any disturbance had been reported from prisons.

Corrections officers had used pepper spray after officers were obstructed from searching and confiscating items from a cell during the disorder over last weekend.