RANGOON — Four inmates rioted inside Pathein Prison, located in Irrawaddy Division’s capital city Pathein, on Saturday, and the division correctional department will bring new charges against them, a correctional director said.
Previously, these inmates had been transferred to Pathein from Rangoon’s Insein Prison and Mon State’s Moulmein Prison. All four were serving long-term sentences for murder, according to the correctional department.
“First the prisoners had a quarrel, and they got into a fight. Then they picked a fight with a prison staff member, and they burst open the jail cell and shouted things as they ran toward the main jail,” director U Min Soe of the Irrawaddy Division Correctional Department told The Irrawaddy.
“Now we have shackled them in accordance with the prison manual, and we have opened a case against them with the police station,” he added.
Prison staff member Ko Myo Min Aung arrived at the scene during his duty shift, where he found the inmates were arguing. The four prisoners argued with Ko Myo Min Aung, and then they busted open their jail cell and chased after him. The four ran into the main jail, and there they tried to grab a set of keys from Cpl Aung Win, another staff member on duty. Eventually, prison staff members were able to restrain the four prisoners, reported Pathein Police Station.
“The correctional department has filed a complaint with the police against those four inmates. So, we will go to the prison and investigate them,” Sub-Lt Thein Zaw Oo of the Pathein Police Station told The Irrawaddy.
The four men will face charges of causing a riot, holding lethal weapons in a riot, and harming civil servants who suppress a riot.
Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
