Inmates serving less than a year's term in a prison in Myitkyina, the capital of Burma's northern Kachin State are being sent to Hard Labour camps in lower Burma by the ruling military junta, local sources said.
Prison inmates serving prison terms between six months to five years in Zilon Prison have been identified and sent to the Htonbo Hard Labour camp south of Mandalay and the Hard Labour camps in the war zone in Karen State, sources close to prisoners said.
The sources added that the prison authorities mainly selected young male prisoners for Hard Labour. If the prisoners wanted to be excluded from the list then their families or relatives would have to pay a bribe of between 250,000 Kyat (US $105) to 300,000 Kyat (US $246) per prisoner to the prison authorities within a given time frame.
The main reason behind sending prisoners serving short-term sentences is that the prisons are becoming increasingly crowded. To make matters worse the death toll among prisoners from Tuberculosis (TB) and AIDS is mounting by the day, according to prison sources.
The diseases have not spread among too many prisoners but policemen guarding the prisons are also falling victim to the diseases, the prison authorities said.
In Zilon Prison, there are prison cells to accommodate about 700 male prisoners and 500 female prisoners. However, there are now about 1,300 male prisoners and about 500 female prisoners. About 20 prisoners are crammed into a prison cell and most of the prisoners are inside for cases related to drug addiction and smuggling, according to the prisoners.
Among them, most prisoners are ethnic Kachins because they do not have enough money to bribe the policemen to avoid being jailed, Kachin community sources in Myitkyina said.
Earlier, the junta used to send prisoners serving more than five years in prison terms in Zilon Prison, to the Hard Labour camps around the country and also as porters in wars between Burma's Army and the Karen National Union (KNU) on the Thailand-Burma border in the Southeast of the country, added local sources.
According to prisoners in Zilon Prison, if the prisoners are sent to the junta's Hard Labour camps, most have little chances of surviving because of torture and malnutrition.
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