The health of both male and female inmates of Bhamo Prison is deteriorating due to malnutrition as fighting continues around Bhamo Town, in Bhamo Township, Kachin State.
A coalition led by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has been conducting an offensive to capture Bhamo Town since December 2024. The coalition has seized some areas of the town and several junta guard posts. It is currently escalating its attacks and trying to take control of the junta’s Military Operations Command (MOC) 21 near Bhamo Prison.
As the fighting has dragged on the junta soldiers have faced food shortages and the prisoners have received less food. Recently all the prisoners have had to eat has been boiled sweetcorn and as a result they are suffering from malnutrition, according to junta army deserters.
A deserter said to KNG: “When food supplies started running low, the inmates were only given boiled sweetcorn to eat. Sometimes, the sweetcorn was pounded and made into a kind of curry. As things got worse, a lot of inmates' health began to decline.”
The deserter also said that some inmates in Bhamo Prison have died due to malnutrition and a lack of healthcare support.
He added: “Prisons are crowded, so it’s easy for diseases to spread. Since the fighting started, the food has gotten really bad, and inmates can’t bathe properly. Because of that, skin diseases have started to appear. Some inmates have even died.”
Family members of Bhamo Prison inmates say they have been forbidden from visiting their relatives in prison for about the last six months. Previously some could manage to visit their relatives using informal arrangements and back channels to organise the visits, but now such methods no longer work and no one has been able to visit the prison.
Unconfirmed rumours have also been circulating that MOC 21 is arming some Bhamo Prison inmates and will send them into combat.
Regarding the rumours a member of the Kachin People’s Defence Force (PDF) who is fighting alongside the KIA said: “We’ve heard reports that the junta is giving weapons to inmates, though we don’t have all the details. Sometimes, we hear propaganda against the KIA and PDF blaring from the prison yard loudspeakers. This suggests the junta may be attempting to recruit and arm inmates for combat.”
According to pro-junta Telegram channels an artillery shell fired by the KIA-led coalition struck Bhamo Prison on 26 June and injured eight inmates.
In October 2024 the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) reported that, at that time, since the February 2021 coup there had been 63 unavoidable deaths of inmates in Myanmar prisons throughout the country, due to them not receiving timely medical care.
