1990 Strangeways Prison riot administrative offices on the lower floor and the chapel on the upper floor. Remand prisoners were held in wings G, H, I and K of a separate prison, linked to the main prison through workshops and a kitchen. The Certified Normal Accommodation Figure for Strangeways, the number of prisoners the prison was designed to hold, was 970. The population of the prison had increased in the months before the riot, from 1,417 in January 1990 to a peak of 1,658 on 27 March. On 1 April, the prison contained 1,647 prisoners – about 925 convicted adult prisoners, 500 remand prisoners
2012 Welikada prison riot the searches. The police have defended their actions, saying "By killing the prisoners who were armed, we prevented a much bigger disaster". Minister of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms Chandrasiri Gajadeera announced on 10 November 2012 that he had appointed a three-member committee to investigate the riot. A second investigation is to be carried out by Prisons Commissioner General P. W. Kodippili. The opposition has described the riot as a massacre and called for a parliamentary select committee to investigate the riot. Civil rights groups have also called for an independent investigation. The Asian Human Rights Commission has condemned the authorities