Reuters-Myanmar Camps Kill Thousand

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Myanmar Camps Kill Thousands, Released Thais Say 
08:14 a.m. Sep 21, 1998 Eastern 

By Sutin Wannabovorn 

YANGON (Reuters) - Thousands of Myanmar prisoners die each year from
starvation and sickness or are beaten to death in ''slave labor camps,'' a
group of released prisoners said Monday. 

Myanmar's military government freed 101 Thai prisoners Monday in what it
called a goodwill gesture to boost relations with its eastern neighbor. 

Most of the Thais are fishermen, locked up for more than three years in
Yangon's In Sien prison and in Mandalay after their vessels entered
Myanmar's territorial waters. 

The Thai prisoners, speaking on their return to Bangkok, said they were
generally treated well but spoke of appalling conditions faced by their
Myanmar cellmates, most of whom were convicted of petty crimes such as
theft. 

Local prisoners faced regular beatings, infection from HIV-contaminated
medical supplies or were sent to labor camps from which many never
returned, they said. 

``Myanmar tries to lessen overcrowding in its jails by sending prisoners to
slave camps from which only 50 percent return,'' one Thai trader, who spent
time in both In Sien and Mandalay jails, told Reuters. 

The released prisoners said Mandalay jail, which houses more than 9,000
inmates, sent prisoners to work in rice fields or on construction sites
where they were forced to break rocks. 

``My cellmate who returned from six months in a slave camp told me that
only 70 of 300 prisoners returned to jail,'' said a prisoner who was
sentenced to 18 years' jail for attempting to smuggle rubies out of
Myanmar. 

``More than 50 percent died from poor nutrition or sickness while some
escaped,'' he added. 

He said officials and fellow inmates had told him during his 10-month stay
in Mandalay that at least 50 prisoners died in the jail each month from
sickness or beatings. 

One released trader said more than 530,000 prisoners were kept in Myanmar's
relatively few jails. ``From Yangon to Mandalay, Myanmar has only 10
jails,'' he said. 

The Thais said the worst ordeals were experienced in In Sien jail in
Yangon, both by local and foreign inmates. 

``Five hundred prisoners were sent out to slave camps in May, but less than
100 of them returned. They looked like skeletons, not like human beings,''
said another ex-prisoner. 

The Thais said many Myanmar prisoners were prepared to work in the rice
fields or on construction sites because this allowed them to earn
reductions in their jail terms. 

``The worst thing is Myanmar jails are flooded with AIDS,'' said one Thai.
``Because the prisons lack medicine and medical equipment, the prisoners
share the same needles.'' 

They said deaths from sickness and beatings were rising, especially among
inmates with HIV or those who had developed AIDS. 

``At least two persons die every day in In Sien prison,'' said one. In Sien
houses more than 12,000 inmates, he said. 

But the ex-prisoners said the Myanmar authorities generally treated foreign
prisoners relatively well. 

``For us, everyone has his own needles and we have our own medicine that is
sent to us by relatives or by the public health ministry,'' a Thai trader
said. 

But even foreign prisoners face a high death rate, they said. 

Rut Somnak, a trawler skipper arrested in 1995 along with 60 other Thai
fishermen, said at least eight of his fellow fishermen had died in In Sien
jail during the past three years.