“To err is human, to forgive, divine.”
- Alexander Pope
Behind every heinous crime committed there is an untold story. Often we tend to ignore the untold story for the gravity of the offence and the destruction inflicted on victims. We fail to realize that perhaps ‘prisoners’ simply needed a compassionate word to set them on the right track and perhaps they themselves were victims.
Recently the Kandy Human Rights Office organized a debate between teams from the Bogambara prison in Pallekelle and the Peradeniya Law Department. This was the first time in the history of the country, where a team of prisoners debated against a group of law students.
Each team consisted of five members. The team of inmates was selected by the Bogambara prison authorities through competitive debates.
Prior to the debate the organizing committee decided that they would not choose a winning team but would instead evaluate the performance of each debater and offer a performance report to them individually.
The law students proposed that the criminal justice system of the country (Including the role of the Police force, Judiciary and Prisons) played an effective and satisfactory role. The team from the Bogambara prison opposed this motion.
Both teams were well prepared as they showed in depth knowledge on the subject in discussion. The inmates quoted from publications by the Asian Human rights Commission on the shortcomings of the criminal justice system of the country. The law students referred to legal publications such as the Penal code and the constitution.
Inmates described their own heart wrenching life struggles as examples in exploring the social injustice caused due to the weaknesses in the criminal justice system. Law students pointed out institutions which provided access to judicial relief and remedy. In response inmates highlighted the difficulties encountered while accessing them.
One inmate brought to attention that an ordinary person was unable to bear the fee of experienced lawyers. Another inmate revealed the problems that surface in sending fundamental human rights petitions and in appealing.
Inmates referred to the alleged distortion of CCTV footages in Wassim Thajudeen’s case and extracted points from the Baratha Lakshman murder trial. Thus showing that the inmates were well read and up-to-date with current affairs.
The knowledge they displayed crushed the stereotyped notion that prisoners were not intelligent or uneducated.
They were able to prove themselves to be as intellectual as law students though they were physically limited to the four walls of the prison.
At one point the law students’ team suggested that if anyone had been indeed tortured they could have sought redress from the existing law. The team of inmates countered the argument by pointing out that except for the Police there was no independent authority to investigate allegations of torture.
One inmate spoke eloquently of how her child had been deprived of a Grama Seva certificate because she was in prison. This manifests a wider issue where family members of prisoners, though blameless, are stigmatized. Another inmate spoke of how rehabilitated prisoners faced difficulties in reintegrating back to society.
After the intense but friendly debate, as per the request of the inmates and the law students the lecturer from the Peradeniya Law Department promised to conduct friendly discussions between the two groups in future as well.
Further a lawyer, who was part of the judges panel decided to meet the team of prisoners once again to understand their problems further so that he could discuss them before courts and bring them to the attention of the relevant authorities.
The Daily Mirror was told that four of the inmates in the team had been convicted for murder.
Yet, we did not see any brutality or selfishness in them. Instead the debate showed them to be very humble and as human as any could be.
The debate was a friendly platform where the inmates and law students understood the thought process of each other. The audience which comprised mainly of law students from the University said that the debate was very emotional as the inmates spoke openly about the injustices they have encountered.
One humbled law student told us that she no longer saw them under the label ‘prisoners’ but as one of her own colleagues.
Suren Perera, a Human Rights Lawyer said that it brought tears to see two teams with opposing ideals engaged in a debate.
“Law students are seated side by side with prisoners to take part in this debate. These law students are very courageous and they have given a good opportunity for the inmates to highlight their problems, which as lawyers in the future they could take up as a cause to fight for,” he said.
