Mldh : How big was your cell  in each prison (please give dimension or square meters)?
How many persons in your cell ? Please describe the cell : any window, door, opening ?
Please give details of what you have in the cells : table, books, toilet, pens, etc...
Please describe how your food are given: the time, the kind of food, etc..
Rev. NK M : Both prison cells have the same size (4x5 m). At Phonetong, there are a maximum of 6 people in a room, while at Phonesavanh, up to 10 prisoners are put into a room.
· At Phonsavanh, there is only one very window in the cell. It is opened from 6 a.m. to
5 p.m. daily. No table, books, pens  is allowed. Two  buckets were given to each the cell, one for toilet, the other for water. The least quality of sticky rice is given to the prisoners twice a day, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon, nothing else.
· At Phonetong, a  window open twenty four hours a day with light from outside. No table 
but books, pens were possible ....  and toilet. At Phoentong,   a cup of soup comes along with the sticky rice. The soup is cooked in the same way every day mixing with the least quality of meat and vegetable (20% solid and 80% liquid).

Mldh :  Were you able to talk to other prisoners sharing your cell ?
Rev. NK M : Yes at Phoun Tong and No at Phoun Savanh.

Mldh : Please try to give us details  on each prisoners : age, ethnic origins, from which part of Laos he is, why each of them was jailed. Where there political prisoners, persons arrested for their religions, their ideas, their belonging to an ethnie ?

Rev. NK M : Ages of the prisoners range from 14 to 70. The youngest was a Hmong boy coming from the jungle to buy medicines for his parents. When he was arrested in 2001, Lao authorities automatically increased his age by 4 years to be 18 and sentenced him for 15 years in prison. The oldest one was a Thai man who was suspected that he would burn Watai Airport for he had a cigarette lighter in his pocket near by the airport.

Mldh : If you were forbidden to talk to each other, please tell us how you communicate, how the prisoners would be punished if they were found talking to each other ?
Rev. NK M : Use only small voice during night time. Due to the short period of time, I have not learn about that, yet; but consequences must take place more likely severe.

Mldh : do the prisoners in the two prisons where you were had visits from their families?
Rev. NK M : Yes. But at Phonesavanh, family members cannot talk and touch the prisoners. Only from a distant for some. Others are not even allowed to see each other. Food and clothing can be passed through officers, and who knows what get across and what's not.

Mldh : while in prison, did you witness or hear about tortures, death, disparition that could have occured in prisons?
Rev. NK M : Yes. They are very wild and fearful.
There are vivid talks about the torture of the five Liberians at Phoun Tong jail. They were beaten by police officers with all their forces and strengths using their feet, hands, and sticks. Officers also burned the prisoners with cigarettes all over the body and especially at sex area. The Liberians were beaten so harsh that one of them was nearly death and had been taken to the hospital and never returned. The officials kept lying that he is gone home, but it was confirmed that he is dead.
 One of our guides was beaten half death. Under-neat of his foot was cut so that he could not walk. However, praise God that he was able to escape from jail to report to the free world that we were arrested and imprisoned. Otherwise, our case would not have been known to the free world and we would still be in jail or already died.

Mldh : what kind of relations are there between the prison's guard and the prisoners.
Please describe, if you can, the organisation of  the prison where you were.
Rev. NK M : Once one becomes a prisoner, you lose your rights as a human being. At Phonetong, however, some of the rich foreign prisoners were able to work and walk along side the police officers because of the bribe.

Mldh : while in Laos, did you meet many Christians? Did they tell you about any religious repressions from the Lao authorities? If so, how ? do you have any exact details ?
Rev. NK M : Yes. I met some prisoner Christians, but they did not want to talk about their faith because they have hard time trusting whom to talk to. If they talk to the wrong persons, then they would face persecutions such as imprisonment, being forced to renounce their faith by signing a paper to the government that they are turning from their Christian faith, or forced to drink animal blood. I was told that, "Christian practices should be silent and within the heart only."