Mech Dara

 

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.

 

Released at the ministry’s annual meeting yesterday, the report gave a rundown of the security sector’s activities in 2016, and also lauded the ministry’s suppression of protests, targeting of political dissidents and jailing of human rights workers.

 

It stated that 2016 saw a 3 percent rise in overall crime alongside a 22.8 percent increase in the prison population, with 13,635 people incarcerated last year and only 9,408 released. A further 76 prisoners died and three escaped.

 

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-- © Copyright Phenom Pen Post 23/02

Crime up by 3% but the prison population up by 20%. This could only make sense in a Cambodian context. One third of prisoners awaiting trial. Perhaps the judicial process could be speeded up to reduce the numbers of those unnecessarily suffering in what is no doubt a nasty penitentiary system.