Police Seek Dozens of Escaped Inmates Following Prison Break in Myanmar

Today, the Straits Times (Singapore) as well as Channel News Asia published an article from Agence-France Presse, an international news agency based in Paris, detailing the recent escape of forty-one inmates from a prison in Myanmar. These inmates were housed in Hpa-An prison, located in the east of Karen State (south-east Myanmar). 

Reports from the site recounted that a truck had entered the prison, only for the prison official driving it to be attacked by a group of inmates. The inmates then took control of the truck, driving it through the closed prison gates with enough force to break through it, and eventually escaped. However, both reports highlighted what seemed like an interesting point of tension for me, as there were “conflicting reports from police and prison officers” regarding the purpose of the truck at the prison this morning. It seems strange that the truck was driven by a prison official, not some external vendor, and yet there are discrepancies regarding the truck’s presence at all, as this seems to me like a crucial part of figuring out how the inmates escaped. If, for example, the pickup of garbage or drop-off of construction materials was a regularly scheduled occurrence and the inmates had ample information to successfully predict which official would be driving it, it might have been easier for them to plan and execute this escape.

Currently, three of the forty-one inmates have been taken back into custody, but local police chief Aung Myat Moe has urged members of the public in nearby villages to report if any strangers are sighted in their villages as the police step up the hunt for the remaining escapees. 

One of the really interesting things that jumped out at me from this article was the English sign (in the photo attached) in front of the Hpa-An prison — it is strange to me, firstly, that the sign was made in English, and definitely points back to British colonial times. Also, the text on the sign is also confusing because I am trying to understand who the intended audience of the sign is.  Whether this is meant to be a sign of true fairness within the prison as a signal to incoming prisoners (which I doubt in light of the mass exodus of prisoners) or as some form of assurance to concerned reporters/international human rights activists etc. that the prison is treating the inmates sufficiently well.

It’s fairly interesting just considering the way in which the prison (and local officials) try to shape the way the prison is perceived, especially in light of the prison break of such a great volume. I just wonder what else is left out of these reports, and in what ways local news outlets may be spinning the narrative.

Sources:
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/dozens-of-inmates-escape-in-my…
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/myanmar-jail-break-dozens-of-i…