Myanmar's Insein jail overcrowded

Despite concerns by Amnesty International, Myanmar's Human Rights Commission gave the notorious Insein Prison a clean bill of health, except for being overcrowded. A delegation of eight commission members, including its chairman, visited Insein as well as two other prisons to investigate reports by Amnesty International that recent hunger strikers claimed they lived in "dog cells" and were deprived of water. Insein, in Yangon -- the old capital formerly called Rangoon -- gained notoriety under Myanmar's several decades of military rule. Junta members imprisoned political activists and pro-democracy leaders in the facility. Inmates included the winner of the 1990 national election and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi who served several sentences at Insein. After being escorted around the prison and interviewing three former hunger strikers, the commission concluded the allegations were "untrue," a report in the government publication New Light of Myanmar said. "All prisoners interviewed stated that they were not deprived of water and were provided with medical attention both during and after the strikes," the report said. "The allegations regarding 'dog cells' also proved to be untrue. The hunger strikers were each held in cells measuring 10 feet by 22 feet, which were clean and property ventilated." The report in New Light was a "statement" by the commission based on the findings of its visits to Insein, Hlay-Hlaw-Inn Yebet Prison Labor Camp and Myitkyina Prison in December. The commission said the visits "provided a valuable opportunity to observe at firsthand the daily lives of the prisoners and the general conditions in which they are serving their respective prison terms." The commission, which was set up last year by the newly elected government of former junta chiefs, also said it "is grateful for the full cooperation extended by the prison authorities." The team said in Insein it inspected healthcare and recreational facilities and the serving of daily meals. It also observed formal education classes including those of linguistics and computer training, as well as "religious activities." At Hlay-Hlaw-Inn Yebet Prison Labor Camp, the team said it "interviewed a number of prisoners who expressed their views and concerns in a candid manner." The interviews were attended by "camp authorities" who "took notes of them with a view to taking corrective actions," the commission's statement said. Prisoners at Yebet also received "meditation sessions" that, the commission said, have "a salutary effect on the prisoners' state of mind in the long term and its continuation is strongly recommended." However, the commission said the number of prisoners in Insein "far exceeds its maximum holding capacity" and is an "important source of grievances which should be addressed in a timely fashion." Prisoners also need more religious studies programs, including "Bible studies for Protestants, confessional and communion services for Catholics and suitable religious programs for Muslims and Hindus." The commission was "pleased to find a chapel, a mosque, a Hindu temple and Buddhist shrine" at Insein. All the prisons are run according to "the Myanmar Jail Manual and U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners," the commission said. But a 2009 report by the BBC noted political activists dubbed it the "darkest hell-hole in Burma." Bo Kyi, a secretary of Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, was jailed for more than seven years for political dissent and was in solitary confinement for more than a year, the BBC said. He was kept in a concrete cell 8 feet by 12 feet with no toilet, "just a bucket filled with urine and feces" and slept on a mat on the floor. Kyi told the BBC he was tortured and beaten by the prison guards. He was shackled in heavy chains, with a metal bar between his legs, which made it difficult to walk. The Insrin report is the first for the commission of 15 members, all bureaucrats and academics and all of whom were noted as "retired" from their careers. Members are retired law, labor and history professors, as well as a retired director general of the government's Forest Department. It was set up in September after the U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, called for an independent commission during his visit to Myanmar the month before. A brief note in New Light of Myanmar in September announced the creation of the commission, saying it was for "promoting and safeguarding fundamental rights of citizens described in the constitution." Analysts have questioned whether the commission's retired civil servants and scholars will have the will or the ability to challenge the government.