LATEST NEWS JUNE 2006

By Bert Bratoo

For those of us who have been imprisoned in Thai jails for several years now the date, June 9^th 2006 had always remained constant in our minds as a beacon of great hope and possibly the answer to our prayers, for this was to be the day that the Thai Government would declare a huge Amnesty for it’s prisoners including, for a change, those convicted on Narcotics offences.

This glittering prize that for so long had seemed to shimmer far off on the horizon, not easily viewed, like a record attempt ‘Rocket car’ on the bed of salt lake, was suddenly upon us and in sharp focus.

This amnesty was to be declared to mark the biggest occasion in modern Thai history, that of his Majesty the Kings Diamond Jubilee, and so we had pinned our hopes on the assumption that a big occasion would translate into equally big cuts for the majority of Thailand’s burgeoning prison population, currently standing at around 350.000 individuals. the fact that drug prisoners were likely to be included in the amnesty at all, was in itself a reason to be very optimistic because as a rule drug cases rarely get considered. Analysis of previous amnesties shows that drug prisoners have been averaging a cut about once every ten years or so. Meanwhile, amnesties for prisoners on any other kind of conviction – including Murder, Rape and Pedophilia – have been awarded at much more regular intervals, perhaps around once in every three years. Furthermore, the size of their cuts have always been proportionally larger.

Familiar to prisoners everywhere, the ‘Rumor Monkey’ has been chattering away in Bangkwang for many months now, but during the long fortnight leading up to the amnesty, the mutterings had increased and reached a state of ‘Fever Pitch’.

It was said, for example, that the cut in sentences would be given ‘across the board’, and ‘drugs’ prisoners would receive equal cuts to other cases: or that 900 foreign prisoners would  be released on the day in front of the worlds press though the criteria for selecting these ‘lucky 900’ were predictably vague.

Later, 300 of those ‘lucky 900’ would now be Malaysian nationals because Malaysia, so the rumor went, had just released 300 Thai prisoners as a mark of respect to the King: Then, so it was said, any prisoners who had already entered a personal petition for a kings pardon would have them granted and would be released. On another day the word was that the amnesty would now be delayed for up to several months due to Thailand’s recent and well publicized political upheaval. There were even rumors that the whole thing had been cancelled due to pressure from the U.S. Government to keep drug offenders firmly behind bars for the foreseeable future. New rumors were churned out as quickly as the gullible Thais could swallow them up. I also believe that some of the more promising stories were actually started by the authorities here in an effort to suspend morale.

The mood amongst the prisoners in those last few weeks leading up to the amnesty was one of a kind of feigned cheerfulness, a false bravado. People were extra polite and well mannered toward each other as though any misbehavior would break an invisible spell and plunge us all into perpetual darkness and despair. There wasn’t exactly a party atmosphere, far from it, but I could detect an extra ‘Spring’ in peoples steps born out of their belief that their situations were about to be exchanged for something far more sufferable.

The reverie was briefly cranked up a notch or two one afternoon when a new ‘Ladyboy’ was transferred to building 6 from another building. For those of you that don’t know, Thailand is notable for, amongst other things, having an unusually high percentage of transvestites and cross dressers per capita and to the Thai people they are accepted as the ‘Third Sex’. It is not surprising then, that some individuals from this cross-gender community  would end up in Bangkwang just as ordinary Thai  citizens do. Building 6 is home for about 7 or 8 of these ‘women’ who mince about the place in women’s clothes and underwear, costume jewelry and heavy layers of make-up, and who are the answer to hidden prayers. The opportunity to have sex with them is bartered for openly between them and their prospective customers who are mainly young Thai men.

It must be understood that none of these ‘Ladies’ have yet had any kind of sex change operation, but one has had breast implants and commands a high price for oral and anal sex, leaving the rest to squabble and bitch over the less affluent punters. The arrival of this new addition to the clutch certainly set hearts-A- fluttering in some quarters and business was booming even though to most of us the sight of a 6 feet, 190 pound Asian version of Ken Livingstone in a dress was only a passing diversion and became an amusing sidetrack for barely a morning. Curiously, there have been six ‘Free Condom’ machines screwed to the wall of the hospital waiting room for as long as anyone can remember but none can recall a time that they actually contained condoms!

There was another brief diversion a week before the amnesty. For two days there was a flurry of activity as Thai prisoners were set to work cleaning and splashing paint on an area of the building commonly known as the ‘Canteen’ and only called so because of the few rows of bench seats lined up there.

The usual malingerers, sleepers and layabouts, and some of the  prisoners too, were cleared away from the area while the piles of rubbish, filth and cat shit were at long last also cleared and washed away, the first time in many years judging by the sheer volume of debris. The high wooden roof beams were swept using makeshift brooms tied to long lengths of bamboo and the whole place was enveloped in a cloud of crud, birdshit and asbestos dust from the ancient roof tiles.

Once that was cleared away the bench legs, table edges and wooden roof support posts were given a skimpy coat of internal white emulsion from an old five liter can that had been laying around, probably since Bangkwang was built.

The following morning a barrow load of fine tableware was carted into the building and laid on the benches with place settings for around 80 people. A ‘ No Smoking’ sign was hastily nailed up. A brand new stainless steel sink – the first ever seen here – was given pride of place and was even ‘plumbed in’ so that water flowed from the tap, though the supply pipe was laid right across the main pathway, which incidentally had been lined with pot plants for what remained, as yet, a mystery occasion. The users of the sink, on the one day the water supply was turned on became to wish they hadn’t. after rinsing their hands and pulling the plug, the sink full of dirty water would empty itself onto their feet, the ‘Blueshirt’ builders not having bothered to plumb-in the drain hole!

We had now realized that this was to be a staged managed ‘Cover up’ the likes of which we had witnessed far too many times before and it was obvious that some outside officials would be coming. Farther enquiry revealed that a film crew would also be in attendance to capture the moment for prosperity. The visit was scheduled for the following day and the next morning the final touches were put to the whole charade. Water jugs were filled, fruit was brought from somewhere and put out invitingly at equal distances along the benches. Blueshirts and Grovellers competed to take charge of the final lay out of the benches and tableware was shifted from one position to another, then back again as each crawler tried to impress the circling officers with just how beautiful they could arrange the table. Meanwhile, ordinary prisoners gawped at this mildly amusing display of sycophancy through the barred partition. When everything had been arranged to nothing less than mathematical precision, a call went out on the main P.A. for exactly 80 volunteers to help ‘man’ the benches. Volunteers were to don their blue ‘visit’ shirts and report to a Blueshirt who would indicate where they should sit. For their trouble they would be given a free meal which was undergoing preparation that moment in building 9, the cookhouse.

Foreigners of course were not invited to this free ‘Nosh-up’ in front of the cameras, but most were grateful for the snub. Once the 80 hungry Thai’s had taken their places at the table – many others where turned away – the food was brought along in steel buckets from building 9 on a hand barrow and promptly dished out using large ladles from one end of each bench, the prisoners passing the brand new bowls along in a chain, and back until everyone seated had a bowl beside them. The ‘Meal’ was to turn out disappointingly simple. A rice porridge and side order of chicken’bones’ consisting largely of the birds neck and feet. A few bits of green matter dotted the porridge so as to claim a vegetable content. An order was given that the fruit should remain untouched.

With the stage having finally been set and with everyone in their places, the ‘Visitors’ were sent for and escorted by a big group of prison officers and top brass into the building. They were shown the ‘Canteen’ where 80’Happy’ Thai prisoners were busily tucking into their regular lunchtime meal- just as they have not been doing for the other 364 days of the year. The visitors, who where all in civilian clothing and plainly Thai, stood among the prison officers asking seemingly topical questions and nodding sagely at the replies while the camera crew recorded their presence at the ‘Shindig’.

A few minutes during which the entourage were filmed from every angle, then it was back off to the gate of the building and it was all over. Those eating were ordered to “Hurry up” and clear the area while the Blueshirts moved back in to make sure that none of the tableware was stolen. The entire sets of tableware were rinsed, packed on to the  barrow and wheeled out of the building, and into folklore within one hour of the visitors departure. Along with them went the fruit, Pot plants and the kitchen sink, and it was as though the event had never taken place. Everything was  back in its place, apart from the cat shit which would take this buildings 50 – 60 stray cats a little longer to sort out.

“Who were that Lot?” I asked the prisoner building clerk who was dutifully pushing papers around his desk. “ That was the health Department”  he replied “ Here to check on the eating arrangements for prisoners”.

The penny dropped. What we had just witnessed was one Thai Government Department scratching the back of another while a completely bogus record of this ‘Surprise Inspection’ was put on film for their archives.

The amnesty was now just a few days away but the previously buoyant mood of most prisoners was replaced by one of disappointed resignation after a long term Thai prisoner with ‘connections’ learnt  ‘from the horses mouth’ that the cut would be small, so much so that it would be insignificant to most. Further suspicions were raised when two days before the announcement an impromptu concert was thrown, ordered by the building authority in an obvious attempt to try and placate the now brooding Thais. A makeshift band of prisoners claiming to posses a modicum of musical talent where hastily cobbled together and a barrow with an ancient P.A. system and a couple of tatty old electric guitars appeared out of nowhere. The rest of the day was marred by a dirge of poorly played instruments and Thai pop songs interspersed with several half-assed attempts at that ‘Done To Death’ ‘Eagles’ Anthem, ‘Hotel California’ which forced most of the foreigners to the other end of the building out of earshot. The sense that bad news was definitely on the way was now being compounded by the common sense notion that good news is seldom celebrated before it is made public.

On June 8^th 2006. at around 10:30 am the director of Bangkwang announced and read out the terms of the amnesty over the prison P.A. system. It came as a surprise to most of the foreigners as we had assumed that no announcement would be made before Jubilee day on the 9^th. But it was a Thursday and a long weekend stretched ahead. The Friday, Monday and Tuesday having been declared one-off National Holidays by the Government to mark the occasion.

The rapid fire Thai of the directors voice over a tinny public address system was impossible to decipher but a glance at the Thai prisoners who were standing, listening in total silence, some with their heads bowed, left us in no doubt that the news was not that which we had hoped and prayed for. For the next 40 to 50 minutes the terms and conditions governing who had qualified for a cut in sentence were repeated over the loud speakers  and hardly a person stirred.

As soon as the announcement came to an end the hushed crowd instantly became noisy and animated but there were no whoops of joy or congratulatory slaps on the back. Loose groups formed, each person giving details to the others about those parts of the announcement he had heard and understood while simultaneously asking about the parts he’d missed. A kind of chaos reigned and prisoners dashed from one group to another seeking a second opinion on some of the finer detail and trying to determine if they had actually benefited from the amnesty or not. It was soon clear that nearly everyone had different opinions on what they thought they had heard and it became impossible to know who’s interpretation of the circumstances was the correct one. The details would have to wait until the next day when a complete copy of the amnesty declaration would be posted on the buildings notice board for all to read – All Thai speakers that is. No part of the declaration was translated to English or any other language making it difficult for foreign prisoners to understand the ‘fine print’. However, the main points of the amnesty, the size of the cuts and to which cases they would be given were, by now common knowledge.

The maximum cut for drugs cases, where the prisoners classification was recorded as ‘Excellent’ was a one sixth reduction for every year of a given sentence. For example, a prisoner convicted, of a Narcotics offence and sentenced to 36 years in prison, being of ‘Excellent’ class, would receive a reduction of 6 years, or one sixth, and his newly adjusted sentence would be 30 years. However, a further condition stated that in order to qualify at all a prisoners case had to be officially over in the court before a cut-off date, August 12^th 2004.

The law in Thailand states that any prisoner who is awaiting trial, an appeal against his conviction or higher proceedings in the supreme court cannot qualify for general amnesty. This meant that many prisoners in this building were totally excluded because their unfinished business with the court meant that their cases had yet to be declared complete. For some of these at least the cut of only one sixth was enough to vindicate their decision to continue fighting for justice. Many of them are on huge sentences of 33 years, 50 years or ‘Life’ and the small cut would have made very little real  difference to the astonishing lengths of imprisonment they have been handed down.

Add to those, the prisoners who didn’t qualify because their cases had not been closed by the courts before the conditional cut-off date and it was becoming apparent that very few people with drugs cases would qualify for a cut at all. It is no coincidence that the declared cut-off date corresponds so neatly with the period of peak arrests during the Thai Governments now infamous ‘War on Drugs’, so criticized by human rights organizations across the globe.

This was not the news we had been waiting for, and it showed on everybody’s face. There was disappointment, disbelief, but above all that all too familiar feeling of being ;shafted’. This was supposed to be the biggest occasion ever, a moment in history never to be repeated, but the years of hope had  been snatched away from us in less time than it takes to  shackle a man. If this was the best that they could do, what hope, if any, remain for us?

For those on convictions other than drugs there was slightly better news. Murderers, Rapists, Pedophiles, Kidnappers. They would all benefit from a cut of one third of  their sentences but even they felt they had been cheated having expected a one half cut from the outset. Nobody’s prayers, it seemed, had been answered.

On the morning of the 9^th the full declaration was stapled to the notice board and small groups of men gathered around to study the fine print. But for the majority of prisoners there didn’t seem to be much point. Many had not met the conditions at all and did not qualify for any kind of cut. For those that did qualify, their cut was simply too small to make any significant difference to their time.

Long term prisoners, some with already 20 years or more under their belts were in some ways the hardest hit. They would not be going home just yet, their hopes once again dashed against the ‘Hard Rocks’ of reality. It is difficult to even contemplate how they must have felt having been sure that at last their time had come?

Only one toothless old geezer was pleased with the outcome. He is the longest serving prisoner in this building having been here an astonishing 25 years and 3 months to date. I challenge anyone to tell me how that really feels, apart of course from the Gentleman himself.

A quarter of a century ago he was arrested and convicted on drugs charges, sentenced to life and imprisoned in Bangkwang. He has told me that he lost touch with his family during the  early years, and now, sadly could not even remember what they had looked like, he was afraid that this amnesty would free him. He had no home to go to. No family or friends to turn to, no money and was to old to work and support himself. In short, he was in no way prepared for the rigors of life in Thailand in the 21^st century. His friends were here inside these walls. Even some of the officers had become members of his extended family. Bangkwang in the only ‘Home’ he knows.

The news of only one sixth cut in his sentence must have been music to his ears. The cut had not been enough to free him, or his view, turf him out with nothing more that the flip-flops he stood up in. he was now, at least certain of his future for the next 9months. Bangkwang was still his home for the time being. If he’d have had any teeth left in his wrinkled old head, I am sure they would have been smiling!

Ultimately, of the 826 prisoners housed in this building, it turns out that only 3 individuals would be freed as a direct consequence of this amnesty. Not exactly the big occasion that we had had in mind for so long but it did help us to focus on the startling difference on the time a prisoner is likely to serve according to whether he was convicted on drugs charges or another kind of crime.

This point is easily illustrated using 2 of the 3 individuals that were freed as a common example.

The first chap had been convicted of murder and sentenced to 50 years imprisonment. He had benefited from 3 previous amnesties, this one being his forth and the one which would release him. He was freed on June 17^th having served a total of just over 13 years in prison.

The second chap had been convicted for drugs and was sentenced to 33 years and 4 months imprisonment. He had only benefited for two previous amnesties, this being his third. He had also qualified for extra cuts amounting to an additional 4 ½ years due to his many years service as a Blueshirt, terrorizing the other inmates and sucking up to guards and authorities. He was also released on June 17^th having served 19 years and six months of his sentence.

Put another way, a murderer was made to serve just 26% of his sentence whilst a man convicted on drug charges found himself serving more that double proportionally, around 60% of his sentence and even then was lower than average due to his shameful record of over 12 years service as one of the  authorities hated ‘Attack Dogs’. So the message is clear. It is forgivable to rob, rape and murder, but for fucks sake, don’t inhale!

Unquestionably, the guys with the most at stake for the amnesty were those on death row. Just as with lower sentences, a death row inmates proceedings in the court must have been fully exhausted and closed for him to qualify for the amnesty and this meant that again, many were excluded.

Those that fitted the criteria were reduced to a new sentence of ‘Life’ imprisonment.

The granting of amnesty to life sentence inmates, who were reduced to 40 years, has thrown up the absurd situation whereby they have actually ‘overtaken’ prisoners who were given a 50 years sentence, supposedly the lesser of the two punishments. Those on 50 years were given the one sixth cut leaving a sentence of 41 years, 8 months remaining, yet lifer’s came down in one shot to 40 years.

Steve Willcox did not qualify for amnesty, the closing of his trial having been delayed for 14 months while the court adjourned twice because a prosecution witness, a policeman, failed on two occasions to appear on the witness stand. He was subpoenaed on a point of law that bore no influence on the  outcome of this trial and his failure to appear consequently took the closing of the case past the cut-off date specified in the amnesty. Steve’s sentence thus remains at 33 years 6 months. Over the next few days, having been totally cut off from the outside world by extra Bank holidays so that there was no visits or mail, the bad news started to slowly sink through us and settled into those places in our hearts which had once overflowed with hope but were now devoid even of light. The prevailing mood amongst the prisoners had changed to one of deep thought and introspection. Many wondered where they were going to find the courage to continue after their hopes had been tossed by the wayside and the long years could be seen stretching endlessly ahead of them. Many sat alone lost in thought, perhaps berating God and wondering, not for the first time, just how much suffering is enough? Others just stared into space, not wanting to think at all. The spring in their steps now long gone.

Days later we learned that the press had reported the story that 25.000 prisoners had been released from Thai jails because of the amnesty. A misleading account put out by Government press offices calculated to divert concerns away from the real story about Thailand’s prison system.

It may be true that 25.000 prisoners qualified for some sort of cut in sentence but to say that many were released is a lie. The majority of those that were released had less than one year remaining to serve or were those being held in detention for non payment of fines and petty offences who’s benefiting from an amnesty and subsequent release must have sent them all the wrong messages and couldn’t really have made a great deal of difference anyway.

For those of us that remain the mood is now very much one of ‘Back to Business’. The amnesty in most cases will be forgotten as the everyday struggle that is being an inmate here takes priority.

There will be no more talk of amnesties. Not for a long time. That small flicker of real hope that had shone amongst us for so long has been extinguished for good by a system that couldn’t care less-we now know, at least, where we stand.