Sri Lankan Government is bound by Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners ,laid down by the United Nations. These among other things, guarenttes you and other fellow prisoners, the right to have fresh air, light and right to read. If you do not get these, you have right to complaint till you get.
Following words of Supreme Court judge from United State is worth repeating.
When the prison gates slam behind an inmate, he does not lose his human quality his mind does not become closed to ideas his intellect does not cease to feed on a free and open interchange of opinions his yearning for self-respect does not end nor is his quest for self-realization concluded. If anything, the needs for identity and self-respect are more compelling in the dehumanizing prison environment. US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote in Procunier v Martinez
416 US 428 (1974)
:
The UN Minimum rules states that In all places where prisoners are required to live or work,
(a) The windows shall be large enough to enable the prisoners to read or work by natural light, and shall be so constructed that they can allow the entrance of fresh air whether or not there is artificial ventilation
(b) Artificial light shall be provided sufficient for the prisoners to read or work without injury to eyesight.
(Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners:
Adopted by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held at Geneva in 1955, and approved by the Economic and Social Council by its resolutions 663 C (XXIV) of 31 July 1957 and 2076 (LXII) of 13 May 1977).
People outside have a right and duty to send books to the prisoners. Why not start doing it now.
4 Oct 2010 17:04:16 GMT 
4 Oct 2010 17:43:41 GMT 
4 Oct 2010 21:49:44 GMT 
5 Oct 2010 03:46:41 GMT