Hundreds of inmates including political prisoners were transferred from Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison to Daik-U and Tharyarwaddy prisons in Bago Region this week, according to the Political Prisoners Network-Myanmar (PPNM).
Five vehicles full of prisoners left Insein for the Bago prisons on Sunday, said Ko Thaik Tun Oo of PPNM.
“We heard male prisoners were sent to Tharyarwaddy Prison and females to Daik-U Prison. I don’t know the exact number, but we heard that each vehicle carried around 50 so there might be 250 [in total],” Ko Thaik Tun Oo told The Irrawaddy.
The transfer came a week after around 250 prisoners including political detainees from Mandalay’s Obo Prison and Mon State’s Kyaikmaraw Township were transported to Tharyarwaddy and Daik-U prisons in Bago, Myingyan Prison in Mandalay and Magwe Prison on June 15, according to PPNM.
Details of the political prisoners transferred to other jails are still unknown. Family members said they were not told about the transfer.
A relative of a prisoner transferred from Insein Prison on Sunday said: “We were not informed about it. Family members know about transfers only when they are reported by organizations helping prisoners. And family members often face obstacles when inquiring where prisoners have been transferred.”
Daik-U and Tharyarwaddy have become notorious as the worst jails for human rights violations against political prisoners and other inmates since the 2021 coup.
Individuals and organizations donating free food and other necessities for prisoners said they have difficulties supplying inmates in notorious prisons.
Ko Thaik Tun Oo said: “Hundreds of political prisoners have been transferred since June 15. This is not a coincidence but an attempt by the regime and its correctional department to disperse political prisoners so that they can’t stage protests in prisons and it becomes easier for guards to handle them.”
Last week, women political prisoners were among 80 female inmates beaten in a brutal assault by guards at Daik-U Prison. Five women prisoners were hospitalized after suffering severe injuries in the beating, which occurred as they were protesting confiscation of personal items during their transfer from Kyaikmaraw Prison.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners reported in February that Myanmar jails are overflowing with an all-time high of 20,002 political prisoners – including nearly 4,000 women and at least 300 children.
