Prisoners serving life sentences or facing the death penalty will not be allowed to receive visitors despite the resumption of prison visits announced earlier this week, according to sources.
Families of inmates began gathering outside of prisons on Tuesday, a day after they learned that in-person visits would be permitted for the first time in more than three years.
According to an activist who witnessed the scene outside of Thayarwaddy Prison in Bago Region, some relatives were turned away because the prisoners they had gone to visit had been sentenced to death or life imprisonment.
“They were told they would not be allowed to see their loved ones, so they were outside crying and expressing their outrage,” said the activist, who did not want to be identified.
Visitation rights were first suspended in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but remained on hold even after the pandemic ended as the country’s detention centres filled in the wake of crackdowns on protests against the February 2021 coup.
Sources at some of Myanmar’s largest prisons told Myanmar Now that most of them had already begun receiving visitors. However, Insein Prison in Yangon—which holds a large number of political prisoners—was not among them, according to Thaik Tun Oo, a spokesperson for the Political Prisoners Network of Myanmar.
Sources close to Insein inmates, as well as groups involved in assisting political prisoners, said they had been told that the prison would start allowing visitors on November 3.
Prisoner support organisations also reported that prisons would only allow up to 120 visitors per day, and that each visit would be limited to 20 minutes. Visiting hours were from 9am to 4:30pm, they added.
The activist who was outside Thayarwaddy Prison on Tuesday said that crowds had begun to gather there at 4am. “There were a few hundred people waiting to get in,” he said, adding that most were related to political prisoners.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the junta has arrested more than 25,000 people since seizing power, of whom 19,616 remain behind bars.
There are currently 120 post-coup prisoners on death row, and another 43 who have been sentenced to death in absentia, according to the group. Hundreds more have been given life sentences.
Family members wishing to visit prisoners are required to show multiple documents, including proof of residency, clearances from junta-controlled police stations, and Covid-19 vaccine certificates.
Some who were able to meet these requirements on Tuesday were told to come back the next day due to the large number of visitors, according to Thaik Tun Oo.
The restrictions impose an undue hardship on families living far from the prisons, said a lawyer who represents several inmates at Magway Prison.
“These are people who have to come into town from villages just to get all the paperwork they need. Some who have been vaccinated can’t find the certificates,” he said.
To assist families unable to pay for the trip to the prison where their relative is being detained, the International Committee of the Red Cross has announced that it can provide travel expenses to those who contact their offices for help.
Despite such difficulties, many prisoners expressed excitement at the prospect of seeing family members for the first time in years.
“Some prisoners were jumping up and down when they heard that they would be able to meet their families again. They were really happy,” said Thaik Tun Oo.
It is still unclear whether detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint will be allowed to meet with their relatives. Suu Kyi, 78, is reportedly under house arrest in Naypyitaw and Win Myint is currently being held at Taungoo Prison in Bago Region. Lawyers representing the ousted leaders said that requests for visits had been denied by junta officials. Myanmar Now is still reaching out to Suu Kyi’s younger son, British national Kim Aris, for comment.
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