Producing inmates for court proceedings has been suspended for two weeks after the outbreak of a bacterial infection at the Galle Prison.The superintendent of Galle Prison said the prisoners would be virtually produced for court proceedings when required.On Monday (Aug.

21), two inmates detained at the Galle Prison were reported dead while five others were hospitalized due to an ‘unknown’ illness.However, the Health Ministry said today, as per preliminary investigations, the deaths and hospitalization of Galle Prison inmates were attributed to meningococcal disease, a rare and serious illness caused by meningococcus bacteria.Prisons Additional Commissioner General and Media Spokesman, Chandana Ekanayake mentioned that 16 inmates are receiving medical attention at hospitals – 07 at the prison hospital and 09 others at the Teaching Hospital in Karapitiya.The postmortems of the two deceased inmates were performed on Monday, and their remains have been referred to the Government Analyst for additional tests.According to health officials, the meningococcal disease can often be severe in drug addicts whose physical condition has deteriorated.