Insein Prison ( my, အင်းစိန်ထောင်) is located in Yangon Division, near
Yangon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
(Rangoon), the old capital of
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
(formerly Burma). From 1988 to 2011 it was run by the military junta of Myanmar, named the State Law and Order Restoration Council from 1988 to 2003 and the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) from 2003 to 2011, and was used largely to repress
Prisoners have reportedly been beaten with a rubber pipe filled with sand and chased by dogs, forcing them to crawl on their hands and knees across a gravel path.
Protests within the prison
1991 prisoner hunger strike
According to a former prisoner's account, in 1991 several prisoners held a hunger strike, demanding proper healthcare and the right to read newspapers. However, their demands were not met, and the prisoners were tortured using the gravel path method.
2008 mass shooting of inmates
On 3 May 2008, over 100 prisoners were shot by guards at the prison resulting in the deaths of 36 inmates. A further four inmates were later tortured and killed by the prison guards who believed they had been the ringleaders of the initial protest that culminated in the mass shooting.
2011 prisoner hunger strike
On 24 May 2011, the Myanmar government retaliated against a hunger strike by about 30 political prisoners in the prison by forcing the ringleaders into solitary confinement. The hunger strike began when seven female prisoners protested against a government prisoner amnesty program that failed to include most political detainees. On 23 May, 22 male prisoners, including three Buddhist monks, joined the protest, demanding better prison living conditions and improved family visiting rights. According to Aung Din, the executive director of the Washington-based
U.S. Campaign for Burma
{{Democracy movements in Burma
The United States Campaign for Burma (USCB) is a U.S.-based membership organization that evolved out of the Free Burma Coalition founded by Maung Zarni. Founders were Jack Healey, who provided fiscal sponsorship to ...
, "The latest information we have received is that six of the ‘leaders’ of the strike from the male group have been moved to what is known as the 'dog cell'—a small cell block where they could be tortured and family visits are not allowed." One of the prisoners moved was an editor of ''The Kantaryawaddy Times'', Nyi Nyi Htun.
2022 prison explosion
In 2022, a blast occurred at the prison in which eight persons died, including guards, and 18 visitors were injured. The incident occurred at 9:40 AM
Myanmar Standard Time
Myanmar Standard Time (MMT; my, မြန်မာ စံတော်ချိန်, ), formerly Burma Standard Time (BST), is the standard time in Myanmar, 6:30 hours ahead of UTC ( UTC+06:30). MMT is calculated on the basis of 97°30′E lo ...
. According to local witnesses, two parcel bombs detonated in the morning. but the cause of explosion is yet unknown
Notable prisoners
Most famous illegally held prisoners include:
*
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2 ...
(she was confined to Insein in 2003, 2007 and 2009) — The Nobel Peace Prize-winning human-rights activist.
* Student leaders of the 1988 Uprising, including:
**
Min Ko Naing
Paw Oo Tun ( my, ပေါ်ဦးထွန်း ); better known by his alias Min Ko Naing, ( , lit. "conqueror of kings") is a leading democracy activist and dissident from Myanmar. He has spent most of the years since 1988 imprisoned by the ...
**
Pyone Cho
Pyone Cho (Burmese: ပြုံးချို); born Htay Win Aung; born 2 April 1966) is a Burmese politician and former political prisoner, currently serving as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Representatives for Dawbon Township ...
Kyaw Min Yu
Kyaw Min Yu ( my, ကျော်မင်းယု; also known as Ko Jimmy; 13 February 1969 – 23 July 2022) was a Burmese writer, political prisoner, and a member of the 88 Generation Students Group. He was executed in July 2022 after being ...
** Mya Aye, and others.
Other activists held in Insein prison from 1988 to 2016, include the intellectual and democracy activist, Win Tin; and a host of others who were elected to parliament as members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in 1990 (none of these individuals were allowed to serve their term in parliament). Other known prisoners include Burmese video-journalist named Sithu Zeya who was arrested in April 2010 for photographing the aftermath of an attack on civilians by the military junta. Another imprisoned video-journalist is Ngwe Soe Lin who was arrested in an internet cafe in Rangoon on April 14, 2010 for his video coverage of Burmese children orphaned by
Cyclone Nargis
Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Nargis ( my, နာဂစ်, ur, نرگس ) was an extremely destructive and deadly tropical cyclone that caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Myanmar during early May 2008. The cyclone m ...
in 2008. Democracy activist Aye Yung was held for trial at Insein Prison for distribution of leaflets at Dagon University.
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was esta ...
journalists
Wa Lone
Wa Lone ( my, ဝလုံး; born 1986) is a Reuters journalist and children's author who, with fellow reporter Kyaw Soe Oo, was arrested on 12 December 2017 in Myanmar because of their investigation into the Inn Din massacre. A police witn ...
and Kyaw Soe Oo were held at the prison for more than 500 days following their arrest on 12 December 2017, due to their investigation of the Inn Din massacre. Amid international outcry over their imprisonment, the pair were released on 7 May 2019, following a pardon from
President of Myanmar
The president of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar () is the head of state and constitutional head of government of Myanmar. The president leads the Cabinet of Myanmar, the executive branch of the Burmese government. The current preside ...
Win Myint
Win Myint ( ; born 8 November 1951) is a Burmese politician who served as the tenth president of Myanmar from 2018 to 2021. He was removed from office in the 2021 Burmese coup d'état. He was the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Myan ...