October 22, 2022
The military council has tightened security and indefinitely suspended prison visits to all prisons in the Ayeyarwady region, including Pathein prison, starting October 20, according to sources close to the prison authority.
“In the morning, there was a bomb explosion in front of Insein prison. As a result, visits to all prisons in the Ayeyarwady region were banned indefinitely from the afternoon of that day,” said a source close to the prison department.
On October 19, two explosions occurred in front of Insein prison at around 9:30 am, injuring and killing people. On the same day, the regime increased security at five prisons in the Ayeyarwady Region and also banned prison visits.
Following the unannounced ban by the military council, family members of prisoners throughout the region said they were having difficulty visiting the prisons.
“I have to visit the prison from very far away. Now it has been banned and I do not even know what to do. Inside the prison there is nothing. They [prisoners] are only comfortable fetching things from outside,” said a woman from rural areas in Ngapudaw Township who had come to visit the prison.
Before the junta’s indefinite ban, prisons in the region allowed people to visit once a week and four times a month, according to the prison department.
Prison visits were allowed once a week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
The regime not only imposed a ban on prison visits, but also tightened security inside and outside Pathein prison. There are reports that senior political prisoners and key political prisoners are being held under private surveillance.
Pathein prison alone holds more than 40 female and 360 male political prisoners from seven townships in Pathein District, according to records of the Ayeyarwady Human Rights Activists Network
In the Ayeyarwady Region, prisons are located in five major district capitals – Pathein, Myaungmya, Pyapon, Maubin and Hinthada.
Sent by NMG.