Prison officers at four Myanmar prisons are defrauding political prisoner’s families and threatening to bring new charges against the prisoners if their families report the scam.
The revelations were made in an 8 February 2024 statement by the Political Prisoners Network – Myanmar (PPNM).
According to the PPNM, prison authorities at Obo and Nyaung-U prisons in Mandalay Region, Daik-U Prison in Bago Region, and Myeik Prison in Tanintharyi Region are telephoning political prisoner’s families and saying they must send money to help their incarcerated relatives who are facing problems and then pocketing the money. They also threaten dire consequences for the prisoner if the families report how they have been scammed.
A former political prisoner from Yangon Region said: “Prison authorities have a long-standing history of extorting money. When families face difficulties in contacting their loved ones in prison, they often resort to bribing the authorities. This presents a new opportunity for prison officials to engage in fraud, in addition to their existing extortion practices, as they build connections with the families of political prisoners. For these families, paying is often the only way to help their incarcerated relatives.”
As an example of the way prison officers are defrauding political prisoners PPNM highlighted the case of Myo Thiha Aung, a prison officer at Daik-U Prison in Bago Region. He calls the families of political prisoners, claiming their relatives are in the hospital and urgently need money before instructing the families to send him money.
Later, when the prisoner’s families visit and realise that they have not been hospitalised, Myo Thiha Aung threatens to bring new charges against the prisoner if the family reports that he fabricated a hospital stay to extort money, as he does not want the prison authorities to find out what he is doing.
Myo Thiha Aung has defrauded individual families of political prisoners held in Daik-U Prison of amounts ranging from 1000,000 MMK to 10 million MMK each, according to PPNM.
They also said that prison officers in three other prisons were carrying out similar scams.
U Tun Kyi, a Former Political Prisoners Society (FPPS) steering committee member said: “The fraudulent activities of prison authorities are so severe that they can be compared to the notorious Zhapian [telecom scam] gangs. When their wrongdoing is exposed, the authorities often threaten inmates’ families with solitary confinement or torture if their malpractices are made public. If the identities of these corrupt prison officials are revealed and appropriate action is taken, these cases could likely be reduced.”
The health of inmates in prisons throughout Myanmar has deteriorated since the coup due to issues such as inadequate healthcare, overcrowding, and a lack of clean drinking water.
Inmates are also facing severe human rights violations. These include being denied medicine sent by family members and being subjected to torture and sexual assaults.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), in the four years following the coup, the junta has imprisoned around 28,000 political prisoners across Myanmar and is depriving them of proper healthcare.
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