Sunday Times 2
How to stop cell hangings
View(s):(by hook or by crook)
Last month a Tamil youth in police custody was found hanging from the roof of his cell less than two hours after he had been arrested. In the protest that followed his death, two policemen of the Pussellewa Police were interdicted. Many opinions were also tended on how best to ensure that such deaths by hanging do not happen again in police custody.
MINISTER RATNAYAKE: Cell Monitor
One suggestion was to install CCTV in every police cell throughout the country. But this would mean — since CCTV cameras are not suicide sensitive and wouldn’t set the bells a ringing if and when a prisoner decided to take his own life — that at least one constable would have to be detailed on a shift basis, to keep his eyes constantly on the TV monitors watching 24 hours a day each and every movement of all the prisoners held in different cells at the station.
Another suggestion put forward was that the existing requirement that prisoners should be checked every half an hour should be thoroughly enforced. Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayaka, who told Parliament that there had been a lapse on the part of the police when it came to the checking of inmates at regular intervals, said that in this particular case, it had not happened. The police, he said, had inspected the cell at 18.45 hours and then at 19.40 hours. That was after 55 minutes, late by 25 minutes.
But would even a half an hour check, even if meticulously done, prevent hanging in cells? Wouldn’t an artful person with a suicidal bent, plan out the act taking into consideration the thirty minute interval between police checks? Even as one who uses the train method to make his exist, will have, at least, a rough idea as to when the next train is due to pass a particular spot on the track?
Two weeks ago another person was found hanging from the roof of his cell. This time it was not in police custody but in the Anuradhapura prison. On October 15, a 51-year-old inmate who had been held over a murder was found dead in his cell hanging from the roof. It is not clear whether the prison authorities conduct regular checks on their inmates but even if they do, it would not prevent the determined. Those who intend to take their own lives do not do so by accident but plan out the crimes against self carefully as they would plan out the murder of another. So short of putting all prisoners in straitjackets, is there anything else that can be done?
For instance, haven’t the authorities asked themselves one simple question when it comes to finding a sure fire way to prevent hanging in police cells? Exactly from what are these people hanging themselves from? Instead of installing CCTV cameras in every police cell and wasting police time on manning the monitors or thinking that sticking to a routine of checking on every prisoner will stop prison suicides, isn’t it far better to remove whatever that protrudes from the ceiling of their cells and act as the necessary hook to hang themselves from?
Only one hitch, though. It will leave the police without a good reason to explain away suspicious cell deaths in the future. Perhaps that’s why the obvious has conveniently remained elusive for so long.