Reading in Prison

Prisoners are allowed only to read religious books, even though the authorities’ own jail manual grants prisoners the freedom to read and write.

Dr. Khin Mar Kyi:

“- Later we were allowed to read. I got religious books published by Religious Ministry from my family when they came to see me. When books arrived they checked them. Some books sent by my family had to wait six to seven months before they reached me. Now that I was allowed to read, and compared to previous occasions, things were much better and I was very happy.-“
(See appendix-7)

The authorities usually hold religious books for months. Sometimes, prisoners are prohibited from reading them.

Dr. Khin Mar Kyi:

“- We were allowed to read only religious books. Even these, you could only read when the authorities had checked them. -“
(See appendix-7)

San San Nweh, imprisoned in Insein prison for seven years, had the same experience.

“- My family sent me religious books and they {prison authorities} censored them. 3 books were rejected. -“
(See appendix-13)

Myat Mo Mo Tun, her daughter, asserts that they have to read only some words on pieces of paper and rubbish because they were not allowed to obtain reading materials.

“- When we hungered to read, we had to pull out the smoked cheroot filters and read pieces of news from the filters. We had to read many words from filters. -“
(See appendix-10)