On February 15, a replacement judge put off the case until January 16, 2002. More than 300 Tamil prisoners are held in the jail under appalling conditions. Recently some of the detainees wrote to a human rights group complaining that conditions in the prison complex were getting worse. They said that excrement from the upper floor of block D was leaking into the level below. Many of the wards do not have lights.
Letters sent by relatives are often subject to lengthy delays.
At a meeting organised by the Socialist Equality Party in Hatton on March 3, relatives of the detainees indicated their support for the party's campaign and offered to distribute the SEP's statement on the case to workers and their families. Several spoke to WSWS reporters about the detentions and the impact on their lives. Chandran's father explained that the main reason for wife's death last June was her grief at the lengthy detention of their son. Udayakumar's grief-stricken elder sister also died in May 1999 and Saravanakumar's mother is suffering from a mental illness because of his arrest. Yogeswaran's brother committed suicide last December, unable to face the family's financial hardship.