Commissioner confirms incident of riot at Bomana prison

By MARJORIE FINKEO
REPORTS that remanded prisoners sustained injuries caused by their unruly behaviour and raised an alarm for duty warders at Bomana last week have been confirmed.
Correctional Service Commissioner Stephen Pokanis told The National that a riot took place on Dec 2 at about 9.30pm when 225 remanded detainees started a joint protest to get help for a sick inmate.
While the officers were arranging for a medical officer, the detainees became agitated, rowdy, and abusive and started swearing at the officers and even rattled and shook the cell bars.
“The officers were outnumbered and sensed that the riot was getting out of hand.
“So they raised an alarm for 20 off-duty officers who went in and helped them control the riot inside the cell,” Pokanis said. He said the noises created from the cell were heard by the whole Bomana residential area and the institute.
Pokanis said the patient was helped and returned to his cell the same night.
“The report from the commanding officer I received and have noted that the situation went out of control based on the proactive behaviours of the detainees,” he said.
“The kind of force officers used to quell the riot was fair because the tense and dangerous situation warranted us to use force to contain it.
“The work of officers not only required them to provide security, containment and management of our institution. Our officers are dealing with different individuals who have complex social and physiological problems.”