Prison officers at Kale Prison in Kale (Kalay) Township, Sagaing Region are sexually harassing prisoners’ family members and extorting money from them.

Prison Director U Aung Soe Hein and Prison Security Officer Han Win Aung from the Kale Prison have sexually harassed the wives of several inmates by claiming they would improve their husband's living conditions and reduce their sentences in return for sexual favours from the wives, according to an unnamed relative of an inmate.

She said to Khonumthung News: "I gave them my phone number because they said I needed to stay in touch with the Prison Director to help improve my husband’s conditions in prison. After visiting him, I received a call. During the call, the Prison Director told me that if I dated him privately he would reduce my husband's sentence. I was terrified and so embarrassed. I had never experienced anything like this before. When I looked into it, I learned that other women had been verbally harassed in the same way. I also found out that he and Han Win Aung often made inappropriate comments to female prisoners.”

Prison officers also extort money from inmates family members or force them to buy items they want.

“They target and approach the wives and family members of inmates, especially the women,” said another family member of an inmate. They explained that the prison officers “ask for money, either claiming it’s for training or for travel, for no reason at all. Sometimes, they even demand that inmates’ wives buy them watches that they want. It’s truly unscrupulous.”

Currently, there are about 1,500 inmates in Kale Prison, of which around 500 are political prisoners.