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Insein Prison |
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“ Whoever you are, leave it at the prison gate. There are no politicians, doctors, teachers, monks, nuns or students. You are all prisoners. You are all the same.” Those are the greeting words for every new political prisoner in Burma. The jail authorities subscribe to the junta's official line that there are no political prisoners in the jails. In 1991, I was detained in cell block No.1 of Insein Special Jail (ISJ - formerly called the Attached Jail). Although it is a special jail, the only special privilege provided was "special solitary confinement". The chief prison doctor was Dr. Soe Kyi, and his assistants were Dr. Tun Tun and Dr. Aung Than Myint. During those days, Dr. Soe Kyi was the most powerful man in the prison because of his relationship with former Home Minister Lt-Gen Phone Myint. Almost every Wednesday, the chief warden made his rounds and checked to see if the prisoners in ISJ had any complaints or requests. All officials in the prison, including prison medical officers, had to accompany him on his rounds. It was the only time we had a right to see a prison doctor. Apart from Wednesdays, we could only see a "medical worker" between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.. At ISJ, our "medical worker" was Corporal Khin Maung Nwe who had little clinical knowledge or experience. If one wanted to see him, first one needed to inform the head of the cell-block. However, to see a doctor on Wednesday, a patient was humbly made to stand head down and with hands crossed over the groin area in his cell. Passing officials would peer into the cells, asking the sick what they had to say. The doctor never gave actual examinations, but only asked us what was wrong. Then he would tell Khin Maung Nwe what type of pills to give the patient. But we were never told what type of medicine was prescribed to us. Our blood pressure and heartbeat were never tested and we never saw a doctor with a stethoscope. Regardless of the affliction, all patients were treated with the same medicines, usually a weak painkiller like Burspro or an antacid called Antacin. All the prisoners began calling Khin Maung Nwe "Mr. Burspro!" It's strange - isn't it? We were given the same treatment even though we suffered from different ailments. Not surprisingly, U Tin Maung Win ( NLD-MP ) and U Sein Win died in Insein prison in January 1991. U Tin Maung Win was suffering amoebic dysentery but he never received any proper medication. Only when he fell unconscious did the jail authorities finally send him to the prison hospital. He died shortly after. The authorities claimed he had died of leukemia. After hearing of U Tin Maung Win's premature death, we requested that Dr. Soe Kyi provide proper medicine for us. He replied, "You're lucky that we are even kind enough to prescribe Burspro and Sodomite. If MI (Military Intelligence) knew about that, we [doctors and medics] would be fired. We were told not to give any treatment to those who are awaiting trial or currently being tried." Occasionally, when we were very fortunate, we were given Tetracycline, Ampi-cillin or Paracetamol. Although prisoners are not doctors we are familiar with antibiotics. One cycle of antibiotics is 16 capsules for 4 days but we never received enough capsules. At most, we received 4 capsules. If we complained, the doctors and medics would say, "Why do you think you're special? There are many other patients here. If you received 16 capsules, how can we provide for the others?" Finally, we realized that assuming the humiliating official posture in our cells to request treatment was not worth it as we never received treatment except for Buspro and Sodamint. In February 1991, a Rangoon Institute of Technology [R.I.T] student suffering from a bad toothache met Dr. Soe Kyi. The doctor asked him, "Where does it hurt?" The student replied, "My lower left jaw." Dr. Soe Kyi smiled and said, "Okay, use your right side [to eat food]." The student became angry and screamed, "You are not a doctor!" In late February 1991, Toe Toe Tun from the Democratic Party for a New Society, suffered from dysentery and asked Dr. Soe Kyi to authorize special meals of porridge and boiled water. Not unexpectedly, Dr. Soe Kyi said, "It is impossible to provide boiled water. We don't even have boiled water to clean the needles at our hospital." In March 1991, Moe Zaw Oo (NLD- Youth) developed a large boil on his hip. Khin Maung Nwe said a doctor wouldn't give him any treatment, even if he were allowed to see one. Khin Maung Nwe offered to remove the boil himself. Moe Zaw Oo already had a high temperature due to the infection and there was an insufficient amount of post-treatment antibiotics available so he refused the offer, insisting to see a doctor. Finally, Dr. Soe Kyi came and said, "Your boil needs to be operated
on." Moe Zaw Oo familiar with the risks of the hospital treatment asked the doctor: "What should I do? You are a doctor, can you help me?" "Never forget the fact that this is a prison", was Dr. Soe Kyi's only reply. Then he left, telling Khin Maung Nwe to treat Moe Zaw Oo as he saw fit. Khin Maung Nwe told us prisoners that the prison would not provide new blades, bandages, alcohol or Ampicillin. We asked him to buy medical supplies for the operation from outside, but he said he could not afford to buy supplies, and asked the prisoners for money. In addition, he could be thrown in jail if he were caught providing medical supplies, as it is a violation of the Jail Manual rules and MI. We replied, "How can we pay since we are not allowed to hold money?" We were upset and angry. "You are not a real medical worker! You are not even a human-being!" Khin Maung Nwe disagreed. He explained if he wasn't a human being and didn't understand medical ethics, he would leave Moe Zaw Oo's operation to the hospital, with assistance from his co-workers who don't care whether they use unhygienic needles and equipment. Indeed, there would be a high risk of contracting HIV disease if we let Moe Zaw Oo be operated on at the prison hospital. The medical workers, who also treat the Thai Aids patients, have little idea about the deadly virus and neglect cleaning needles and syringes. We later found out that some "medical workers" are drug addicts and are infected by HIV. Finally, we cut a deal with Khin Maung Nwe. A political prisoner gave him his fancy T-shirt, worth 800 kyats, in exchange for Moe Zaw Oo's treatment. I admire Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in a South Africa prison, but I wonder whether Mandela could have survived in Insein prison. . |
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He was arrested by Military Intelligence on November 7,1990. He was charged under section 5(J) of the 1950 Emergency Provision Act and was sentenced to seven years imprisonment with hard labor. At the time of his arrest, he was working for the ABFSU and was also carrying out duties for the NLD youth. While in Insein special prison he met Mr. James Leander Nichols and learnt how the honorary consul to four Scandinavian countries was being questioned and beaten by Military Intelligence. Moe Aye was released from Insein On November 22, 1996, and had to seek intensive medical treatment due to the harsh conditions in prison. He left Burma in 1997 and has written a number of articles about the prisons and political prisoners in Burma. Currently he lives in Norway and is working for the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB). He still suffers from serious health problems. |
