Guards demand money from Insein prisoners
Aug 16, 2007 (DVB)—The families of several political prisoners in Insein jail said yesterday that prison officials had stolen money from inmates after they were ordered to pay for the cost of their detention in cash.
The family member of one political prisoner, who asked to remain anonymous, said that officials recently ordered the inmates to pay for prison services with cash and said that 20 percent of all money coming in would have to be donated to the jail. “Then, last month, the authorities ordered the prisoners to hand over all their money, claiming that they were going to spend it on better food for the inmates,” the family member said. “So the prisoners handed them the money. But the officials reportedly used the money for themselves and transferred the inmates to different cells.” A woman who also recently visited a family member detained in Insein on a political charge, said that the officials had clamped down on the amount of food and medicine political prisoners were allowed to receive from outside. “They also punished the inmates who were found to have money by keeping them in solitary confinement,” the woman said. Officials from Insein prison were unavailable for comment today.
Reporting by Maung Too
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