US embassy cable - 03RANGOON773

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000773 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP AND DRL 
CDR USPACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/27/2013 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, BM, Human Rights 
SUBJECT: CONDITIONS IN INSEIN PRISON 
 
REF: A. (A) RANGOON 377 
     B. (B) RANGOON 724 
 
Classified By: COM Carmen Martinez.  Reason: 1.5 (d). 
 
 (C) 1. Summary: According to a report from a recently 
released inmate, conditions in Burma's Insein prison have 
deteriorated badly following the discovery of a microphone in 
a room being used by UN Special Rapporteur Pinheiro for 
interviews with inmates in March (reftel A).  The prison 
warden at Insein was replaced immediately following that 
incident and the new warden has imposed a new, and far 
harsher, regime which has rolled back many of the 
improvements introduced by ICRC since 1999.  TVs, newspapers 
and all writing materials and writing implements have been 
taken away, and socializing is strictly controlled.  Food, 
sanitation and health conditions remain poor, security has 
increased and prisoners are now regularly subjected to 
punishing physical exercises, and beaten.  Political 
prisoners are segregated from the general prison population, 
but there are indications that some may have been abused, 
including some who may have been in Aung San Suu Kyi's convoy 
on May 30.  We have passed a copy of the report to ICRC. 
They have confirmed that the warden at Insein Prison was 
replaced following the incident with Special Rapporteur 
Pinheiro.  They have also promised to investigate conditions 
at Insein when they next visit, probably in July. End Summary. 
 
2. (C) The following is an edited version of the former 
inmate's report. 
 
The former inmate is not a political prisoner.  He was 
arrested by the police in August 2002 and was locked up in 
Insein prison until he was released on bail in March 2003. He 
met with ICRC during ICRC's prison visit in November 2002. 
After ICRC,s visit, the warden of Insein prison improved the 
facilities and arranged some entertainment programs for the 
prisoners.  The improved system lasted until March 2003, when 
the incident occurred with Special Rapporteur Pinheiro 
(reftel A). The authorities immediately changed the prison 
warden on the grounds that he had damaged the image of the 
government. 
 
The inmate was rearrested and sent back to the Insein prison 
in June 2003.  He found that the prison had changed totally. 
Security was much tighter.  He and other inmates were 
searched thoroughly, and the snacks he brought with him were 
taken away by the prison authorities.  He was also ordered to 
leave all papers, pens, books, and other items at the gate. 
On their first day, the new inmates were made to sit on the 
wet ground in the rain, while the new warden laid down the 
rules for prison operations.  In his speech, the warden told 
them that they were there because they are criminals and that 
the prison authorities would treat them like criminals.  The 
authorities did not care about ICRC, the warden said.  The 
world community may say the condition of this jail is poor 
but "we do not care" because this is prison --  a place to 
keep criminals like them.  The warden also warned that if 
inmates tell anyone about happenings within the prison, they 
will suffer severe punishment and will spend the rest of 
their life in the prison, regardless of their current 
sentences. 
 
The inmate said that all inmates are now obliged to fall in 
and perform &ponsan8 -- punishing physical exercises -- 
each morning.  This practice had been stopped following 
ICRC's visit November 2002, but was resumed in June.  If the 
inmates could not perform according to order, they were 
beaten with rough batons.  Since June 12, the new warden has 
also banned all TVs and newspapers from the prison. No 
prisoner is now allowed to carry a ball pen, a piece of paper 
or anything that can be used to write. 
 
Health and sanitation conditions are also poor.  Many inmates 
who suffer from communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, 
hepatitis B; etc. remain in the general prison population; 
they have not been segregated.  Toilets are in poor shape and 
little water is available for bathing.  Food is also poor. 
For lunch, inmates get a bowl of thin bean soup and a plate 
of rice. For dinner, they get a bowl of &Yay-Baw-Law,8 a 
kind of prison soup composed of herbs and vegetables found in 
the prison courtyard, a small portion of &Ngapi8 (fish 
paste - sometimes with &maggots8) and a plate of rice. The 
rice was generally full of crushed rice, husks and stones. 
Socializing has also been restricted.  There is no 
entertainment, all prison visits are monitored, and all 
packages brought to the prison are screened thoroughly by 
plain-clothes security personnel. The prison has also now 
forbidden inmates to sit or talk together in groups of more 
than four; any inmates found sitting together in larger 
groups are beaten. 
 
Political Prisoners 
 
Political prisoners are kept in a special barracks next to 
the barracks in which the inmate was kept.  The whole 
building is built of concrete and well protected by walls so 
that nobody can see the political prisoners and their 
activities. The barracks are divided into cells that can 
house two or three persons.  At present, however, there were 
8 to 10 persons in a cell.  Altogether, there are an 
estimated 230 inmates in the barracks for political 
prisoners.  The political prisoners' barracks has a small 
courtyard and, unlike the other barracks, does have a bathing 
hall and a walking place where the political prisoners are 
allowed to walk in the early morning.  Occasionally inmates 
see political prisoners, in hoods to conceal their 
identities, dragged from the political prisoners barracks to 
the prison hospital.  On the third day of his detention, the 
inmate himself saw seven hooded prisoners dragged to the 
hospital by prison officials.  When he asked one of the 
prison guards who the prisoners were, he was told that they 
were the &problem makers who went along with Suu Kyi.8  He 
also heard that there is a special &bungalow8 next to the 
political prisoners' barracks where Aung San Suu Kyi is 
supposed to be detained, but is not sure that that is true. 
(Note: However, this information correlates with reftel B, 
para. 2 regarding the special "bungalow" built for Aung San 
Suu Kyi within Insein.) The inmate also said that the prison 
wards are now watched not only by prison guards, but also 
plain clothes personnel. 
 
3. (C) Comment: We will have to wait until ICRC visits Insein 
before judging whether all the details in this report are 
accurate.  However, it does have the ring of truth.  It would 
make sense for the authorities to tighten security and 
discipline following the incident with Pinheiro.  That would 
be even more true if NLD members who were picked up following 
the attack in Depeyin were lodged at Insein.  Whatever the 
reason for the crackdown, however, it does appear that the 
GOB may have begun to roll back, at least at Insein prison, 
reforms encouraged by ICRC following its 1999 to 2002 prison 
visits.  If so, it would be one more setback for 
international efforts to improve human rights in Burma.  End 
Summary. 
Martinez