News

General Department of Prisons reports 73 percent of inmates now vaccinated

The Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Prisons (GDP) has vaccinated over 73 per cent of the 37,000 inmates throughout the country as of August 5 and is continuing to vaccinate prisoners in seven remaining provinces with the US-donated Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 jabs.   ...

Voun Dara
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/gdp-reports-73-cent-inmates-now-vaccinated

Prison department dismisses rights violations report

The General Department of Prisons has dismissed a report made by rights group Licadho which claimed there are violations of basic human rights in the Kingdom’s prisons. ...

Ben Sokhean
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50664743/prison-department-dismisses-rights-violations-report/

New Prey Sar block set to open

A new Prey Sar prison building – part of the scrapped VIP prison project – was handed over to the Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Prisons on Friday and will be put into operation soon. ...

Mech Dara
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-prey-sar-block-set-open

Prison numbers jump 20 percent

Cambodia’s already swollen prison population leapt by more than 20 percent last year, according to the Ministry of Interior’s annual report, which acknowledged the influx has caused “serious challenges” with overcrowding, and revealed one-third of inmates are in pre-trial detention. ...

Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/prison-numbers-jump-20-percent

Prison rates soaring in Cambodia

Cambodia’s incarceration rate has doubled in the past 10 years, according to statistics obtained from the General Department of Prisons. Department spokesman Nouth Savna said that in 2006 there were just 9,634 people behind bars; as of earlier this week, that figure had increased 125 ...

Jack Davies
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/prison-rates-soaring-cambodia

‘Political prisoners’ partitioned in Prey Sar

A new set of security measures at Prey Sar prison, designed to stop rampant drug use at the facility, is instead being selectively applied to prisoners being held in a politically sensitive case related to an ongoing sex scandal involving opposition leader Kem Sokha.   ...

Mech Dara and Shaun Turton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/political-prisoners-partitioned-prey-sar

Prison population swells

Cambodia’s badly overcrowded prison population leapt by nearly 20 per cent in the first 10 months of this year, government data show, raising serious health concerns.The figures, released by the Interior Ministry’s general department of prisons yesterday, show that there were 17,522 prisoners in jails ...

Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/prison-population-swells

Ratanakkiri prison director accused of abuses

Dozens of officials at Ratanakkiri Provincial Prison have called for the director of the facility to be removed, citing a wide range of violations, including having sex with a female inmate, permitting unsanctioned prison labour and pocketing money paid in exchange for benefits. ...

Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ratanakkiri-prison-director-accused-abuses

Prisoner influx worries warden

An influx of suspected drug dealers to Kampong Chhnang’s jail has led its director to plead with the provincial officials for help amid fears that the prison authorities will soon be unable to control inmates. Pov Vuthy, Kampong Chhnang prison director, said yesterday that the recent ...

May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/prisoner-influx-worries-warden

Amid overcrowding, prison numbers rise

Prison overcrowding continues to be a major issue plaguing Cambodia, Ministry of Interior officials said on Monday, as they revealed a 3 per cent increase in population at correctional facilities and prisons nationwide. In 2014, the number of prisoners rose from 14,702 in 2013 to 15,165 ...

Pech Sotheary and Sarah Taguiam
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/amid-overcrowding-prison-numbers-rise

Hard life for kids in jail: report

Having begun life in an overcrowded cell with nowhere to play, little to eat and surrounded by abuse, when Dara* left prison at nearly 4 years old, he had not yet spoken a single word. According to the report, which was released on Saturday, Dara’s ...

Alice Cuddy and May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/hard-life-kids-jail-report

6 break out of Ratanakkiri prison

Six inmates busted out of Ratanakkiri Provincial Prison in the wee hours of yesterday morning, police said, adding another incident to a string of embarrassing escapes at the facility over the past two years. According to a post on the National Police’s website, authorities in Ratanakkiri’s ...

Chhay Channyda
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/6-break-out-ratanakkiri-prison

As two prisons are built, use of funds is questioned

Samraong City, Oddar Meanchey province – In December, Kuy Bunsorn, director-general of the General Department of Prisons (GDP), announced that ground would be broken on two new prisons in Pailin and Oddar Meanchey provinces to alleviate chronic overcrowding. Mr. Bunsorn said that the Ministry of Finance ...

Lauren Crothers and Ouch Sony
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/as-two-prisons-are-built-use-of-funds-is-questioned-67582/

Amid overcrowding, inmates build new prison

Even within the country’s notoriously overcrowded prison system, inmates in this northern province live in particularly harsh conditions. Approximately 120 prisoners, including 16 women and three children, are held in four cells in the Oddar Meanchey provincial police headquarters. “In one cell we keep 20 or more ...

Lauren Crothers and Ouch Sony
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/amid-overcrowding-inmates-build-new-prison-67129/

Nine inmates die in 1st quarter; drop from same period in 2013

The number of inmates who died in the country’s prisons in the first quarter of the year dipped to nine from 15 during the same period last year, a rights group and the prison department said. From January to April, nine prisoners—five men and four women—reportedly ...

Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nine-inmates-die-in-1st-quarter-drop-from-same-period-in-2013-60719/

Pardons given to 70

Seventy prisoners are to be released during Khmer New Year next week in an amnesty that will also see hundreds of prison sentences reduced by up to a year. The Ministry of Justice approved 555 applications for sentence reductions and pardons following a request by its ...

May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pardons-given-70

Prisoners queue up for possible New Year's pardons

More than 600 of the Kingdom’s inmates could be released or see their sentences reduced this Khmer New Year if the King responds favourably to a request made yesterday by the Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Prisons, officials said. Kuy Bunsorn, director general of the ...

May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/prisoners-queue-possible-new-years-pardons

Ratanakkiri jail director reposted

Ratanakkiri’s prison director has been moved to a new post after 20 years on the job. In a ceremony held on Thursday, the Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Prisons officially replaced Ngin Nel, transferring him to the Ministry of Interior, where he will serve as ...

Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ratanakkiri-jail-director-reposted

Two of 23 jailed protesters granted bail; release date unknown

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday morning granted bail to two of the 23 union activists and protesters jailed following the lethal suppression of garment worker strikes by military police on January 3. Municipal court presiding Judge Leang Samnatt held an unscheduled hearing on Friday ...

Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/two-of-23-jailed-protesters-granted-bail-release-date-unknown-51734/

CNRP to try to visit jailed 23

Opposition party members will lead a delegation to the doors of Kampong Cham Correctional Centre 3 on Tuesday in the hope of visiting the 23 people imprisoned there following a violent crackdown on striking garment workers in early January. Despite having previously been denied access to ...

May Titthara and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cnrp-try-visit-jailed-23

Rights Groups Want Access to 23 Detained Prisoners

Two human rights groups on Friday appealed to Interior Minister Sar Kheng to intervene after the General Department of Prisons, which is part of the Interior Ministry, refused to allow representatives from their organizations to meet with some of the 23 union activists and protesters ...

Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rights-groups-want-access-to-23-detained-prisoners-51194/

Prison oversight lags: UN

Five years after first ratifying the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), Cambodia remains delinquent in honouring some of its commitments under the treaty, UN representatives said yesterday. Under the OPCAT, Cambodia was obliged to create an independent National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) to ...

Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/prison-oversight-lags-un

Authorities ‘ignoring’ children behind bars

Eight-year-old Sokun* spent almost the first seven years of his life in prison. Unlike other Cambodian children who have the freedom to play and run free, countless hours of his early life were spent in a hot, squalid and teeming cell in the prison where his ...

Kevin Ponniah and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/authorities-%E2%80%98ignoring%E2%80%99-children-behind-bars

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