The Commission for the Assessment of Legal Affairs and Special Issues will inspect Yangon’s Insein Prison, said MP Yan Aung from Mingalar Taungnyunt Township, who is a member of the commission.
“We have a plan to inspect Insein Prison. But we will first consult with the government. We informed the Yangon Region government about our plans through the parliamentary speaker. We will monitor Insein Prison after we monitor the courts in Yangon Region,” MP Yan Aung told Eleven.
“We aim for prisons to serve as rehabilitation centers. Right now, that’s not the case. Several former prisoners have committed additional offenses after meeting up with other former prison inmates,” the commission member said. “Therefore, we will carefully monitor the prison and announce whether any changes are needed.”
According to Eleven, the commission is in the process of conducting observations at every court in Yangon Region, except on Co Co Island. The courts in Yankin, Mingalar Taungnyunt, South Dagon and Dagon Seikkan townships still have yet to be observed.
MP Kyaw Kyaw Tun, who is also a member of commission, said: “When we observed the courts and police stations, we found them understaffed. As a result, police officers lacked the requisite skills and resources to carry out their work.”
The commission will also monitor Yangon’s four district-level courts, as well as the Yangon Region Supreme Court.
The parliamentary commission is headed by former Union parliament speaker U Shwe Mann.
Yanghee Lee, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, mentioned the prison in her remarks following a 12-day visit to Myanmar on January 20.
She said: “I also visited Insein prison in Yangon, and Buthidaung and Sittwe prisons in Rakhine State. In these prisons, I met prisoners and detainees who were charged (and convicted) for criticizing high-level government or military officials, for raising human rights issues, for filing court cases against the government and for not meeting the rules for peaceful assembly in attempts to express their concerns for the government’s attention.”
Insein Prison is known around the world for its inhumane conditions, corruption, abuse of inmates and employment of mental and physical torture. Many of Myanmar’s most important political leaders were imprisoned there by the military junta, including Aung San Suu Kyi.
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