Prison staff fraudulently ask for money from family members of political prisoners

Kyaikmaraw, March (15)

The prison staff at the Kyaikmaraw Central Prison in Mon State was fraudulently demanding money from the relatives of political prisoners who were being held for political offenses, freed political prisoners told Than Lwin Times.

The military council’s Prison Department cut off contact with the detainees without allowing them to see their families, and they fraudulently extort money from their family members in a variety of ways.

The prison staff informed the family members that the political prisoners were going to be moved to another prison and that their relatives would have to pay if they did not want them to be moved.

In addition, prison staff solicits money from family members outside the prison, as well as inside the prison, where senior inmates are asking for money in various other ways, including training fees, water and electricity fees for political prisoners.

The freed prisoners said that the prison staff beat and tortured the prisoners who failed to pay them the money they demanded.

Veteran justice lawyer U Gyi Myint criticizes that the situation has reached the level of disorder in prisons that were under the command of a military regime, and that prisoners are not protected by law.

Political prisoners cannot deposit money with the prison department like other prisoners to buy food and medicines; they can only do so after receiving a prison sentence.

Furthermore, at Kyaikmaraw Central Prison, food, medicine, and accessories sent by family members of political prisoners are not given to the prisoners, but the prison staff takes as much as they want and sells it in prison shops.

Political prisoners are subjected to extortion for various reasons, including human rights violations and torture, and they are not allowed to receive medical treatment.

In Kyaikmaraw Central Prison in Mon State, there are more than 200 male political prisoners and more than 90 female political prisoners from all areas, including Yangon, Mandalay, Bago, Karen State, and Mon State.

News-Than Lwin Tiemes