Thailand's Prison Guide for Expat crims.

[Yasojack]

Since first coming here in 1985 and finding the country to be a wonderful place and the people being very hospitable, the resorts not developed, obivously the country was going to become a very popular place to visit and reside.


Just how popular is really starting to show with the criminal element, starting to come here now in there droves.

What attracts them considering what Thai jails are like is beyond me.

Thai Prison Statistics | Thai Prison Life –

Thai Prison Life – ??????????????

Foreign Prisoners Support Service

[Yasojack]

[Yasojack]

[English Noodles]

What attracts them? A society that is corrupted from the bottom to the very top, relatively cheap living, easy access to absolutely anything you desire so long as you have the baht.

[Yasojack]

Could be right, but if i was going to be a crim, i wouldn't pick Thailand for any criminal activity, i would much prefer being in a European jail, sentences lighter and accommodation much better.

[DrAndy]

Could be right, but if i was going to be a crim, i wouldn't pick Thailand for any criminal activity, i would much prefer being in jail in a European jail, sentences lighter and accommodation much better.

I suppose the point EN made was that, if you have the dosh, you will probably not have to do any time, assuming you got caught (which seems fairly unlikely)

[Yasojack]

Theres other 7,000 expats in thai jails now so that not make any sense.

[terry57]

I suppose the point EN made was that, if you have the dosh, you will probably not have to do any time, assuming you got caught (which seems fairly unlikely)

I would not like to find out whether that is the case or not so I think I'll just play it straight and just have a few quiet drinks at the Gecko bar.

[Yasojack]

Heres a letter from a inmate from the hilton, sure wouldn't like to be living like this.

January, 2007

From time to time I receive letters from a British inmate, Gary Jones, at the notorious Bang Kwang Prison, otherwise known as The Bangkok Hilton. Through our correspondence I have learned some interesting, ugly and depressing facts – maybe one of the most poignant things he told me: “As I walk around building two, from time to time I get pleasure from removing chunks of mortar from the walls. Seemingly an endless task, but what the heck, I’ve got another 46 years in here. Just now I chipped away a very satisfying piece, 10 x 5cms, exposing yet more brickwork to the elements.”

Gary sent the following letter to me after having read an article in a magazine concerning a British inmate complaining about human rights abuse in the UK – so Gary expatiated on the stark disparity of the so called human rights in the Hilton:

“Let me explain how, in the absence of human rights, this letter (as with any letter going out of a Thai prison) got to you. Any letter over two sides of a single sheet of paper, and more than 15 lines per side is verboten! Therefore I have to ‘Bling’ a ‘Commando’. Commando being an appropriate title we are encouraged to call the screws. Having cleared that hurdle I must clear the censors, and hope that the stamps aren’t steamed off. Ideally the letter will get to a friend within Thailand; who will then scan this letter and e-mail to England. Any letter with more than 30 baht in stamps on is likely to have the stamps stolen by the postal workers.

British inmates in Thai prisons are fed once per day: an alleged 800gms (really 500gms) of waterlogged cold rice, and fish head soup. We are granted the human right to either buy additional food from the screws or starve to death. (Thais are fed 4-5 times per day). For the 150 odd British passport holders in Thai jails nationwide, our human rights extend to the ability to buy river water from a screw. Plus we have to pay to have that same water double boiled to prevent dysentery and cholera. Here in Thai prisons we can’t enjoy a quiet night in watching the box, writing letters or smelling the roses! With 21 people in my cell (6x4 metres) we have less than 1 square metre of free, personal space. The EEC rules dictate that each inmate have 7.5 square metres of ground space.

3rd world countries, where most of Britain’s 2500+outsources are contained, have vicious sentence plans; mainly for political reasons. In Thailand the average sentence length is 25 years (all offence categories). British consular officials assure the Thai officials that they guarantee, since 2001, that UK residents in Thai jails will serve a minimum of 25 years custodial. But don’t believe me. Ask recent repatriate Lee Williams (2004) or Sandra Gregory of the Novel: Forget you had a daughter.

Now let’s compare the human rights of how an inmate in a British nick ends up doing a couple of years. The same government that is seeing that inmates in British jails are given their human rights is running experiments in 3rd world countries, such as Thailand, to see just which liberty they can take from you next.

• Bounties for non Thais are paid to the Thai police on arrest (only) in narcotics cases.
• Prisoners spend an average of 2 to 5 years on remand. During which time they are subjected to hellish conditions.
• No one who has reported on their time in police custody or remand has failed to mention the use of torture to secure a confession.
• Males on remand, and 3 months after sentence is passed, for drug cases are kept permanently in leg irons weighing from 3kg to 15kg. All those sentenced to death are shackled until execution.
• Baroness Symons of Vernham Green (labour) issued instructions to consular staff in Bangkok that embassy staff were “never, ever to question the tactics and methodologies of the royal Thai police in securing a conviction. For to do so would jeopardise cooperation between the Thai and HMG customs and excise on the interdiction of drugs into Britain”.
• This ill-conceived edict has allowed the Thai police their human right to steal millions of dollars by stitching up hundreds of British passport holders.
• Because of the UK’s FCO on suppressing British passport holders’ human rights, granted to all visitors to Thailand by the Thai constitution, police state style human rights are enjoyed by a corrupt and evil administration instead. So much so, that with over 150 Britons rotting in Thai jails, the UK has more nationals incarcerated than the combined total of all other western nations.

As for the screws in Thai jails, any inmate showing disrespect to a ‘Pookum Chang’ can be summarily executed. This point was demonstrated on September 20th when two Thai inmates were ‘executed’ for complaining that during the military takeover all forms of ‘news’ were to be stopped in prisons.
But generally things are only infrequently as abrupt. No more than 1% of inmates are beaten by screws each year. For those not needing remedial math, the inmate population of ‘die land’ is only 350,000. The Thai department of corruptions, sorry corrections, feels that 350 deaths per annum from officers insisting upon the correct degree of abasement will not cause international human rights activists to protest unduly.
Prison rules state that all inmates must show deference to the screws. This is interpreted that when in the presence of a Pookum Chang the inmate must have his head lower than the screws and bowed. Given the height disparity between foreigners and Thais, screws are within their rights to make the farang stand in the nearest open sewer which ring all parts of the prison, whilst the screw struts past.
Twice each day, more in some other prisons, and the remand centres, prisoners must show respect to: the flag, the king, the prison governor, and the screws in general. Once each year, in April, all prisoners must crawl on hands and knees in front of the governor and receive his forgiveness for being ‘bad people’. This ceremony is filmed for education purposes in Bang Kwang.
Farang prisoners demonstrating an insufficient lack of respect to the screws usually end up in the punishment wing, or Chokey, (solitary confinement) the inmate is deprived of all contact. Other than those times when the screws decide to conduct remedial lectures on deportment. This meditation time is tempered with shackling. Those inmates already sporting leg jewellery are ‘rewarded’ with a second or third adornment.
The pay scale for screws wouldn’t impress you though. Officially an entry level Pookum Chang starts at $50 per month. This rises, in 8 incremental starts, to an official $400 per month for an assistant governor. But, don’t be dismayed, the department of corruptions encourages all screws to avail themselves of the many business opportunities that present themselves. All, not most, screws manage to quadruple their salaries by shaking down the inmates. As a farang I am required to make a voluntary contribution of $40 per month to the POA benefit fund equivalent.

Gary Graeme Jones Ph.D

Gary has always maintained his innocence. His major criticism is not of the Thai authorities, rather of the UK authorities and its mandate on foreign prisoners. He’s been diagnosed with TB, which he says has gone ignored by the British Embassy.
If you’d like to contact him you can visit in person or send him a letter, I am sure he’d be grateful:

Gary Jones
D2, Bang Kwang Prison
117 Nonthaburi Road
Nonthaburi, 11000

[Yasojack]

Heres some who got 50 years,lost there ten kids, and all for a few thousand dollars.

[Yasojack]

these people make me laugh, feeling sorry for the cons.

[taxexile]

what was gary jones originally imprisoned for?

he in in wandsworth gaol now.

[Fluke]

Could be right, but if i was going to be a crim, i wouldn't pick Thailand for any criminal activity, i would much prefer being in a European jail, sentences lighter and accommodation much better.

I dont think that the object of criminals coming to Thailand is to go to jail though

[Yasojack]

here the link drugs

Briton held after Bangkok drugs find | UK news | The Guardian

what was gary jones originally imprisoned for?

he in in wandsworth gaol now.

[Yasojack]

thats the object of all crims, whatever country there in.

I dont think that the object of criminals coming to Thailand is to go to jail though[/QUOTE]

[Fluke]

thats the object of all crims, whatever country there in.

I dont think that the object of criminals coming to Thailand is to go to jail though

[/quote]

People do not commit crime with the purpose of going to jail .
People do not think "I want to go to jail, how can I achieve this"

[Yasojack]

Jeez not going to start a argument about such a trivial thing are we.

[Fluke]

No way, dont want to end up in jail

[Albert Shagnastier]

Life should be shit in prison - that's the point.

Swings and roundabouts. The UK make things cushy at the expense of the taxpayer but a sentence is a sentence. Here they give you 40 years but you can buy your way out.

People bitching about conditions in any prison are having a laugh.

[Sailing into trouble]

I have often wondered how hard it would be for luggage handlers to stick some form of dope in an unsuspecting punters luggage and then retrieve at the other end.

Cause I am so good looking () I always get pulled at Canadian Immigration when reentering the country. Last time I got a young women who liked wearing a gun and being a turd. Once the "computer problem" was noted,again, she asked me the question. "DId you pack your bags sir"

Well yes I did. But unknown to me my other half had helped. I had told my Mrs about not bringing in a whole raft of food products into Canada. She had not and had walked into Canada with a nice smile!! When I opened MY BAG I nearly crapped myself. It had about 50 packets and baggies off stuff I had never seen in my life. Every colour of the rainbow! 2 hours later I got let go with my packets of whatever due to the section head remembering me from my last visit and the "computer cliché" that to this day makes me unique in Canadian Immigration Circles. When he waved me through with an apology the female who was snapping on her rubber gloves was visibly dismayed and stormed off. As I left I did see the look of fear in the line up behind me as she shouted next in a not very friendly manner!

[sabang]

As noted, 'Gary Graeme Jones Ph.D' is now in Wandsworth prison and- guess what. He's still whinging.

The move back to a British prison has not been easy for Gary. The cultural shock after living in Bangkwang for 9 years must be very hard for him.

Gary is in lock down for long periods of time, as are the other prisoners in Wandsworth and he gets little time out of doors. After being in Bangkwang where most of the time he was out of doors or locked in the very over crowded cage, not being allowed outdoors is hitting him hard. It is not the prison systems fault, they are overcrowded and it is a prison, not a holiday camp, but this is an aspect of being back here that Gary is finding hard to get used to.
I am a Prisoner in the Bangkok Hilton

Next he'll be in a low security prison farm in Shropshire, and I'm sure he'll feel agoraphobic with all that space and greenery, po' thing. It must be really hard for him to adjust to a meat n spud diet too, after cold rice and fish head soup. And damn- why don't they turn the central heating up, it were much nicer in Thailand. It's all the British governments fault. Basically, I think Dr Gary likes attention.

[Yasojack]

To be honest Gary should of been left in Thailand to rot.

Another burden on the taxpayer, bringing back all the british criminals is a crime in itself

[wasabi]

thats the object of all crims, whatever country there in.

I dont think that the object of criminals coming to Thailand is to go to jail though

People do not commit crime with the purpose of going to jail .
People do not think "I want to go to jail, how can I achieve this"[/QUOTE]Here there is Borstal 18-21 yr olds,they get released and are so institutionalised that they commit crimes in order to be returned to prison. Warders have told me that when they return to Borstal or Feltham it is "like a school reunion" no shame in returning. I personaly have delivered a prisoner to Feltham and when he saw the processing officer he smiled and greeted him like it was his favourite teacher.(the transformation from surley uncommunicative teenager to happy when the prison door opened was unreal)My neighbour opposite My home is a Salvation Army officer,and last night in fact she told me that in winter the down and outs she helps actually do want to return to prison.

[poorfalang]

commit an criminal offense knowing it is a criminal offense deserves nothing more than that,
rot in peace,
Cunts

[Fluke]

thats the object of all crims, whatever country there in.

I dont think that the object of criminals coming to Thailand is to go to jail though

People do not commit crime with the purpose of going to jail .
People do not think "I want to go to jail, how can I achieve this"

Here there is Borstal 18-21 yr olds,they get released and are so institutionalised that they commit crimes in order to be returned to prison. Warders have told me that when they return to Borstal or Feltham it is "like a school reunion" no shame in returning. I personaly have delivered a prisoner to Feltham and when he saw the processing officer he smiled and greeted him like it was his favourite teacher.(the transformation from surley uncommunicative teenager to happy when the prison door opened was unreal)My neighbour opposite My home is a Salvation Army officer,and last night in fact she told me that in winter the down and outs she helps actually do want to return to prison.[/quote]

Yes, there are some people who , for whatever reason, want to go to jail .
But they arent the people in question, criminals commit crime for monetary gain , they do not commit crime in order to go to jail .
Down & outs and the institutionalised may relish the chance to go back to jail, but for criminals, going to jail is a hindrance .