About 200 political prisoners are being held in solitary confinement at Magway Prison in Myanmar's Magway Region and have been denied access to medical treatment, according to the Political Prisoners Network - Myanmar (PPNM).

Following fighting between a local People’s Defence force (PDF) outside Magway Prison on 13 April, tensions between wardens and inmates at the prison have risen.

In the aftermath of the fighting with the PDF, prison staff physically assaulted around 400 political prisoners being held in Magway Prison. Some of those prisoners suffered gunshot wounds and others had injuries, including to their waists, hips and legs, according to the PPNM.

Currently, about 500 political prisoners, both men and women, are being held in Magway Prison.

Around 200 of those political prisoners are still being held in solitary confinement and being denied access to medical treatment which they are entitled to.

Also, about 50 political prisoners at Magway Prison have been barred from receiving packages sent by their families, according to Ko Thaik Tun Oo, a member of the PPNM steering committee.

He said to MNJ: “Not every political prisoner has been banned from receiving packages. The prison authorities have only stopped about 50 of them from getting parcels. They haven’t made any official statement about who’s affected. Some families only found out their loved ones were banned [from receiving parcels] when they went to deliver packages and were refused.”

To make matters worse for political prisoners being held in Magway Prison, due to a lack of clean water they are forced to buy expensive bottled drinking water and use toilet water for bathing.

The PPNM warned that the Magway Prison authorities will be held fully accountable for their violations of basic human rights.