LATEST NEWS APRIL 2006
By Bert Bratoo
April is the month of the traditional Thai new year celebrations known as “Songkran” and is the most important national holiday in the Thai Calendar.
Also known as the “Water Festival” it is traditionally a time of great merriment for the people, rather like Christmas in the west. However, for those of us in prison it is a dreaded time of year because it spells days of inactivity, boredom and isolation. National holidays for a prisoner means the complete lack of the usual events that help break the long days up into manageable portions, such as mail, visits, parcel deliveries, trips to court, new arrivals, or anything else remotely entertaining or cheering. Even the prison hospital is closed and so becoming ill over the holidays is inadvisable. The non delivery of mail, either outbound or incoming causes massive backlogs and the consequences are still to be felt days or even weeks after the holidays. The same goes for anything else you happen to be waiting on such as important documents or e-mails because ‘Hung-over’ and lazy officers are reluctant to lift a finger so soon following their post-holiday return to duties spelling “New Year Blues” all round.
Since it is “Songkran” month lets stay with the water theme for other Bangkwang news from April.
For months now I have been suffering with serious skin infections, Boils and lesions brought on by the filthy water that is provided here for the purpose of bathing.
Bangkwang is supplied with reasonably clean mains water but in order to “Minimize Costs”(official jargon universally accepted to mean the skimming off or theft of government budget funds by the directorship) contaminated river water is pumped from the nearby ‘Chao Phaya’ river untreated and unfiltered directly into the bathing troughs in each building here. (Waste water and sewage from Bangkwang is pumped back out into the river incidentally) anyone who knows Thailand Bangkok Thames is to London Bangkok London
Unfortunately there are not even any decent doctors working in the Bangkwang hospital, let alone an Archbishop or two! The ones we have are ‘yes men’ not doctors. Their loyalty to the oaths they took as young doctors have been surpassed and replaced by their loyalty to the prison policy and in particular their refusal to subscribe to any suggestion that a particular health problem is in any way related to the inadequate and inhumane, squalid conditions we are forced to live in here. That would be openly admitting that this prison falls far below the minimum requirements and standards laid down for the housing and treatment of prisoners. Basic health care begins with sanitary living quarters and the supply of clean water for drinking and bathing… Any idiot knows that but apparently not the idiots that call themselves doctors here! Meanwhile, skin and other infections are rife amongst the prison population and increasing. During one of my many recent visits to the prison hospital, I got talking to another inmate from death row, building two. It is common here for prisoners to ask about each others situations. Their cases, length of sentence, appeals etc. after all it is probably the only thing we are all sure to have in common. Whilst waiting to see the Quack and chatting as I do I learnt that this chap had been sentenced to death in the first court after losing his trial on drugs charges. Further conversation revealed that he was presently waiting to take his case to the appeal court. He was convinced that in the ‘second’ court he would be exonerated and freed after new evidence had surfaced that would categorically prove him an innocent party in the ‘alleged offence’. He had, he patiently explained, been ‘set up’ by the police and together with the complicity of the prosecutor and judges been relieved of a very large sum of money, earned through legitimate business. This is a story I’ve heard over and over in different forms from prisoners here and in which in this case, as in most involving police corruption, I happened to believe. “Nothing out of the ordinary here” I thought, but the shock was yet to come. I asked him how long he had been waiting to be called back to court for his appeal to be heard?
His answer?- an unbelievable 14 years! One four! For fourteen years this unassuming gentleman had been kept indoors, in a bare cell, sleeping on the concrete floor, given minimum ‘privileges’ and never once without shackles. That is over 5100 days and nights with his legs in steel rings joined with heavy chains, never removed….
I was astounded, speechless, shocked yet again by how a system like this one is allowed to exist. Allowed to destroy a man’s life through the greed and corruption of others? How had this rampant abuse been left to continue and an innocent man left to suffer alone for so long? But then a bigger, much more important question entered my head, one of which I dearly wish I knew the answer. Where did this gentleman find the courage and hope to carry on? To face another day in this hell?
If you know the answer to that one, please let me know.
Water once again, and the expression ‘April Shower’ took on a whole new dimension here in building 6 this afternoon when a fifteen minute down pour, not unusual for this time of year, caused widespread flooding and a subsequent power cut.
The open sewage system that circles the building, grossly inadequate for its intended purpose at the best of times, was unable to cope with the heavy shower and was overflowing within minutes of the rain starting, spilling raw sewage amongst inmates trying to shelter from the storm.
Soon, the majority of us were wading around in filthy brown water, one hand covering our mouths and noses trying not to inhale or catch a whiff of the foul smelling, noxious odors permeating the surrounding atmosphere. Turds bobbed by us like corks while lumps of old animal fat, vegetable matter, fish guts and other ‘ganglia’ suspended in the ‘soup’ clung to our legs like jungle leeches and waves of scuttling cockroaches headed up thewalls to higher ground
Meanwhile the situation was reported to be infinitely worse outside of the building on the ‘main drag’ running through the centre of the prison. Guys coming back from the Friday ‘contact’ visit said that the flooding had reached above knee level. Over 18 inches of filthy water, slime and the contents of around 5000 prisoner’s bowels.
Incredibly the contact visit went ahead and prisoners relatives and families were forced to wade through the filth in order to reach the visit area and anxiously waiting prisoners.
One wonders how these families must have felt about their soaked and stinking welcome to Bangkwang? Especially since it would have taken a blind man amongst them not to notice the prison officer passing them in the other direction. This individual had commandeered a large ‘food trolley’ a chair and a golfing umbrella and seating himself on the trolley well above the ‘high tide’ mark had ordered three miserable and soggy prisoners to push him through the muck to his next destination. He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely and broke into a loud chuckle and even managed a ‘royal wave’ as he passed wives, mothers, fathers, grannies and whimpering children dressed in their finest wading knee deep in human excrement!
To round off this months letter, I have been asked to give a very large ‘THANK YOU’ to the ‘British Woman’s Group’, a tireless bunch of fantastic individuals who have earned a special place in the hearts of the British prisoners in Bangkwang by traveling many miles each week to visit them, bring messages from home, and send them back to their families. These wonderful ladies never come with a frown. Nor, I might add, empty handed. Tasty treats for the lads are always a part of their visiting ‘kit’, as are much needed medicines and recent newspapers with news of the outside world. They have very quickly become indispensable people as well as good friends and are the vital link between the hell that is Bangkwang and the real world outside.
Ladies, you know who you are, a big salute from the boys who send their up most gratitude and thanks to you all.
More news next month. Watch this space
LATEST NEWS APRIL 2006
By Bert Bratoo
April is the month of the traditional Thai new year celebrations known as “Songkran” and is the most important national holiday in the Thai Calendar.
Also known as the “Water Festival” it is traditionally a time of great merriment for the people, rather like Christmas in the west. However, for those of us in prison it is a dreaded time of year because it spells days of inactivity, boredom and isolation. National holidays for a prisoner means the complete lack of the usual events that help break the long days up into manageable portions, such as mail, visits, parcel deliveries, trips to court, new arrivals, or anything else remotely entertaining or cheering. Even the prison hospital is closed and so becoming ill over the holidays is inadvisable. The non delivery of mail, either outbound or incoming causes massive backlogs and the consequences are still to be felt days or even weeks after the holidays. The same goes for anything else you happen to be waiting on such as important documents or e-mails because ‘Hung-over’ and lazy officers are reluctant to lift a finger so soon following their post-holiday return to duties spelling “New Year Blues” all round.
Since it is “Songkran” month lets stay with the water theme for other Bangkwang news from April.
For months now I have been suffering with serious skin infections, Boils and lesions brought on by the filthy water that is provided here for the purpose of bathing.
Bangkwang is supplied with reasonably clean mains water but in order to “Minimize Costs”(official jargon universally accepted to mean the skimming off or theft of government budget funds by the directorship) contaminated river water is pumped from the nearby ‘Chao Phaya’ river untreated and unfiltered directly into the bathing troughs in each building here. (Waste water and sewage from Bangkwang is pumped back out into the river incidentally) anyone who knows
Unfortunately there are not even any decent doctors working in the Bangkwang hospital, let alone an Archbishop or two! The ones we have are ‘yes men’ not doctors. Their loyalty to the oaths they took as young doctors have been surpassed and replaced by their loyalty to the prison policy and in particular their refusal to subscribe to any suggestion that a particular health problem is in any way related to the inadequate and inhumane, squalid conditions we are forced to live in here. That would be openly admitting that this prison falls far below the minimum requirements and standards laid down for the housing and treatment of prisoners. Basic health care begins with sanitary living quarters and the supply of clean water for drinking and bathing… Any idiot knows that but apparently not the idiots that call themselves doctors here! Meanwhile, skin and other infections are rife amongst the prison population and increasing. During one of my many recent visits to the prison hospital, I got talking to another inmate from death row, building two. It is common here for prisoners to ask about each others situations. Their cases, length of sentence, appeals etc. after all it is probably the only thing we are all sure to have in common. Whilst waiting to see the Quack and chatting as I do I learnt that this chap had been sentenced to death in the first court after losing his trial on drugs charges. Further conversation revealed that he was presently waiting to take his case to the appeal court. He was convinced that in the ‘second’ court he would be exonerated and freed after new evidence had surfaced that would categorically prove him an innocent party in the ‘alleged offence’. He had, he patiently explained, been ‘set up’ by the police and together with the complicity of the prosecutor and judges been relieved of a very large sum of money, earned through legitimate business. This is a story I’ve heard over and over in different forms from prisoners here and in which in this case, as in most involving police corruption, I happened to believe. “Nothing out of the ordinary here” I thought, but the shock was yet to come. I asked him how long he had been waiting to be called back to court for his appeal to be heard?
His answer?- an unbelievable 14 years! One four! For fourteen years this unassuming gentleman had been kept indoors, in a bare cell, sleeping on the concrete floor, given minimum ‘privileges’ and never once without shackles. That is over 5100 days and nights with his legs in steel rings joined with heavy chains, never removed….
I was astounded, speechless, shocked yet again by how a system like this one is allowed to exist. Allowed to destroy a man’s life through the greed and corruption of others? How had this rampant abuse been left to continue and an innocent man left to suffer alone for so long? But then a bigger, much more important question entered my head, one of which I dearly wish I knew the answer. Where did this gentleman find the courage and hope to carry on? To face another day in this hell?
If you know the answer to that one, please let me know.
Water once again, and the expression ‘April Shower’ took on a whole new dimension here in building 6 this afternoon when a fifteen minute down pour, not unusual for this time of year, caused widespread flooding and a subsequent power cut.
The open sewage system that circles the building, grossly inadequate for its intended purpose at the best of times, was unable to cope with the heavy shower and was overflowing within minutes of the rain starting, spilling raw sewage amongst inmates trying to shelter from the storm.
Soon, the majority of us were wading around in filthy brown water, one hand covering our mouths and noses trying not to inhale or catch a whiff of the foul smelling, noxious odors permeating the surrounding atmosphere. Turds bobbed by us like corks while lumps of old animal fat, vegetable matter, fish guts and other ‘ganglia’ suspended in the ‘soup’ clung to our legs like jungle leeches and waves of scuttling cockroaches headed up thewalls to higher ground
Meanwhile the situation was reported to be infinitely worse outside of the building on the ‘main drag’ running through the centre of the prison. Guys coming back from the Friday ‘contact’ visit said that the flooding had reached above knee level. Over 18 inches of filthy water, slime and the contents of around 5000 prisoner’s bowels.
Incredibly the contact visit went ahead and prisoners relatives and families were forced to wade through the filth in order to reach the visit area and anxiously waiting prisoners.
One wonders how these families must have felt about their soaked and stinking welcome to Bangkwang? Especially since it would have taken a blind man amongst them not to notice the prison officer passing them in the other direction. This individual had commandeered a large ‘food trolley’ a chair and a golfing umbrella and seating himself on the trolley well above the ‘high tide’ mark had ordered three miserable and soggy prisoners to push him through the muck to his next destination. He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely and broke into a loud chuckle and even managed a ‘royal wave’ as he passed wives, mothers, fathers, grannies and whimpering children dressed in their finest wading knee deep in human excrement!
To round off this months letter, I have been asked to give a very large ‘THANK YOU’ to the ‘British Woman’s Group’, a tireless bunch of fantastic individuals who have earned a special place in the hearts of the British prisoners in Bangkwang by traveling many miles each week to visit them, bring messages from home, and send them back to their families. These wonderful ladies never come with a frown. Nor, I might add, empty handed. Tasty treats for the lads are always a part of their visiting ‘kit’, as are much needed medicines and recent newspapers with news of the outside world. They have very quickly become indispensable people as well as good friends and are the vital link between the hell that is Bangkwang and the real world outside.
Ladies, you know who you are, a big salute from the boys who send their up most gratitude and thanks to you all.
More news next month. Watch this space
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