Legal Procedures in Prison
By Win Naing Oo

Ka Yin Lay was interrogated because he had been accused of hiding a pointed piece of iron in the prison. The Prison authorities asked him to show them the place where he kept it. When he replied that he had no such thing, the authorities started to beat him very violently. They repeatedly demanded that he show them the hiding place. The authorities did not accept his explanation and continued to beat him. Ka Yin Lay bled very severely due to this brutal torture. When he agreed to show them the hiding place, they stopped beating him. However, when they searched the place he directed them to, and did not find the piece of iron, they began beating him again, and asking him the real place. He told them another place, but they still did not find it. So they continued torturing him until he was unconscious. The reason behind this incident was that one prisoner, close to prison authorities, had a quarrel with Ka Yin Lay and given false information to the prison guards. There are many cases like this. Rather than depending on the law, or on prison rules, judgement in prisons depends on the temperament or emotion of prison authorities.

The main weaknesses of judgement in jail are:

A. The lack of proper investigation into rule infringements
Prisoners are always under the watchful eye of the appointed senior prisoners in a cell. If a prisoner gets on well with them (bribes them with money, food or clothes) then even if that prisoner breaks certain prison rules, he will face no problems. If a prisoner does not bribe them, the prisoner can face unexpected problems with the jail authorities because of some misdemeanor concocted by the senior prisoners. For example the senior prisoners may accuse the prisoner of:

• Trying to escape from the jail
• Smuggling money into the jail
• Inciting rebellion among the prisoners over cases of injustice against them
• Possessing a pointed iron stick [some prisoners keep such sticks, about 1 ft in length, for killing someone when quarreling].

When a jail officer dislikes a particular prisoner, he will sometimes also use this kind of false accusation. Usually, prison authorities come to a decision about such cases immediately, without evidence, and later find witnesses who will support their claims. Even if there is someone who gives evidence in support of an accused prisoner, it will not help, and that person will also be punished. Thus, no one dares to give evidence against the prison authorities in such cases.

When there is a problem, the prison officers conduct a hearing themselves, and no one dares to give evidence in support of the prisoner. After the hearing, they immediately pronounce the prisoner guilty, and punish him.

B. Unfair punishments
If a culprit has a good relationship with prison authorities, the punishment is reduced. Conversely, the punishment will be increased if the culprit is disliked by prison officials.

According to the basic principles of human rights, no punishment should be degrading to human dignity. But there are many purposefully degrading punishments in prison.(Also see 4.)

C. Bias
Judgement is not fair or just. If there is a problem between ordinary prisoners and the leading prisoners, the latter will always be favored. It is the ordinary prisoners who will always be found guilty and punished.

If a prisoner who is very close to the prison authorities violates the principles of the jail, he is protected by the authorities and escapes from punishment even if he is obviously guilty. At the very least, jail officers reduce his punishment. If there is a witness who can give evidence regarding the case, he will be intimidated by prison authorities so that he does not speak up. Moreover, they persuade other prisoners, by force or by givmg favours, to give the kind of evidence that they want.

At one time, a prisoner by the name of Kyaw Thu who got into a fight with another prisoner, was paralyzed from the waist down due to severe beating by wardens, merely because they disliked him. But when another prisoner known as Musa had a fight, he was just transferred to another cell without being beaten up because he was friendly with prison authorities.

The judgements passed in prisons by prison officials are more a reflection of the officers feelings than of the existing laws.