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CCTV in cells plan under fire from ex-DIGs and rights experts
The Law and Order and Prisons Reform Ministry’s plan to have CCTV cameras installed in police cells to monitor detainees and prevent cell deaths has come under severe criticism by crime experts and human rights lawyers who say the expensive exercise violates the human rights of the suspects.
The decision follows the controversy over a series of deaths in the recent past where suspects arrested for minor offences have been found hanging in their cells. Police have attributed the deaths to suicide.
Retired high-ranking police officials and senior lawyers say the watchful eyes of the camera lenses will compromise the suspects’ privacy, even affecting the performance of their day-to-day activities.
At a recent meeting, the Association of Retired Chiefs of Police (ARCP) – a body consisting of about 60 senior retired officers pointed out that the government’s plan to spend massive sums on the purchase of CCTV cameras and installing them in police stations was “highly unwarranted” when police had, it said, a practical and foolproof method of monitoring cells.
H.M.G.B. Kotakadeniya, a former Crimes DIG, said police Departmental Orders historically had protocols on how a suspect in police custody should be handled and detained in the cell until produced before a magistrate.
The guidelines specifically mentioned the safety and security of the prisoner, and specified the logging of activities such as meal times, occasions when suspects were taken to court, returned to cells and bailed out. These details were in the Information Book (IB) at police stations.
The rules made it imperative that a police officer of the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) or or higher inspect the cells and compare notes in the Information Book with ground conditions in the cells. The officer is required to make three visits during the nights.
The senior police officer also had to ensure the suspect had suffered no assaults, harassment or injuries while in custody and ensure medical attention was offered if needed. In the case of a death in the cells, all this information could be examined to determine the cause of death.
“If these steps are followed there is no need to spend millions of rupees on CCTV cameras,” Mr. Kotakadeniya said.
But, he added, this system, introduced by the British during colonial times, was extinct. Today, none of these protocols were followed and so doubts arose about the reasons for deaths in custody.
Senior Human Rights Lawyer Kalyananda Thiranagama also said installing CCTV cameras in cells compromised the inmates’ privacy.
“This [the cameras] will no doubt help collect evidence in case of a death in the cell but the privacy of a human is being infringed,” he said.
Former prisons commissioner-general Rumy Marzook is in favour of CCTV surveillance. “CCTV cameras will help detect crimes in the cells. Activities can be monitored and conspiracies can be detected,” he said.
He said criminals always had to be kept under surveillance. If there were more than two hardcore criminals in the cell it was dangerous as killings could occur.
He suggested that the hardcore prisoners be segregated from suspects in custody for miscellaneous offences.
Installing CCTV cameras was “a good step considering the volume of crime”, he said.
“Moreover,” he added, “they also allowed police to exonerate themselves if they are innocent.”
In its 2015-/2016 Annual Report on Sri Lanka, Amnesty International said “suspicious deaths in police custody continued to be reported. Detainees died of injuries consistent with torture and other ill-treatment including beating or asphyxiation. Police claimed suspects committed suicide or in one case drowned while trying to escape,’.
| Camera feasibility study The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Pujitha Jayasundera, said a feasibility study was being carried out on the fixing of CCTV cameras in police cells following the government’s announcement last week that this scheme would be put into operation. Police were examining the model and the type to be installed. “We are looking at normal and zooming-in cameras,” he said. IGP Jayasundera said all 600 police stations in the country will be fitted with CCTV cameras and that priority will be given to police stations where the lockup cells are a distance from the sergeant-in-charge. “He cannot see the cells from his position and having a CCTV camera will be useful,” the IGP said. |