Unsanitary prison: Officials set to evacuate flooded jail

CORRECTIONS officials say they have prepared an evacuation plan for the 850 prisoners at Banteay Meanchey provincial prison in response to severe flooding in the area.

“We have prepared to evacuate the prisoners from their cells in case we can’t keep them at the prison,” said Kuy Kimsorn, the deputy director general at the Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Prisons. He said floodwaters had not entered the prisoners’ cells, but that they would be evacuated to other provinces if necessary.

Thean Chhorvoan, acting director of Banteay Meanchey provincial prison, said floodwaters at the facility had reached 70 centimetres. Local rights group Licadho reported that a number of inmates had become sick in the unsanitary conditions.