Poor Inmates Face Worse Conditions Than Those With Money
KANDAL PROVINCE – At Kandal provincial prison on Monday, about 100 male and female prisoners and pretrial detainees assembled to play games and receive fruit and drinks from rights group Licadho, which is visiting 18 prisons around the country this week in a bid to remind incarcerated people of their fundamental rights. “Whilst prisoner numbers have decreased slightly in Cambodia in the past year, overcrowded, squalid conditions are common and corruption is widespread,” Licadho said in a statement released on Sunday. … “For most inmates, financial circumstances determine conditions of detention, treatment and access to basic needs such as food, water, daylight and fresh air. Those with little or no money are the most likely to be denied their basic rights and are the most vulnerable to abuse. Pre-trial detainees—those who have not yet even been tried and convicted of any offence—are often held in worse conditions than convicted prisoners,” it adds. At the prison in Kandal, many of the male inmates said they were serving time for, or awaiting trial on, rape charges. One 16-year-old rape suspect, who has been detained ahead of his trial for four months, said he did not know when he would have his day in court. “Many people here are being held in pretrial detention,” he said. … Money is also a factor in getting to the Appeal Court in time—an issue repeatedly highlighted by Licadho, but one that prison authorities say is a result of high gasoline prices. …
Lauren Crothers and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/poor-inmates-face-worse-conditions-than-those-with-money-48965/
