Naypyitaw, Burma, Feb 12, 2012 / 16:11 pm
Conditions in a Myanmar children's prison are causing major suffering and malnutrition among its young prisoners, says a Burmese Catholic student working to make a difference.
Chan Thawng, a student at Austria’s International Theological Institute, recently told the school of his visit to the Children’s Prison in Nahawsan, Kawh Hmuu Township. He said about 2,000 children between 10 and 18 are imprisoned there, where they are divided into groups of 500.
“Many children are put into prison because they are thieves, or because they killed their neighbors' (animals) as their parents cannot give them enough food. They are hungry and they steal and become thieves and they are put into prison,” said Thawng. “I am so sad to see them.”
Thawng, the founder of two charities in the country, reported that he and his co-workers had sought to visit the prison for over a year, but a local authority allowed him to secretly visit the imprisoned boys in October 2011.