Sittwe, 29 May 03: "The food shortage in the State Prison in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State in the western Burma has reached a critical point, according to a prison official who declined to be identified. In the face of the critical situation the prison officials have allowed the relatives of the inmates to supply food from outside by taking monthly bribes of between kyat 10,000 and 30,000 depending upon the nature of the sentence, he said. For the prisoners of conscience the bribe is always bigger in amount..."