A letter to the Prime Minister of Thailand
Thailand's American-educated prime minister thought he could use capitalist tools and democratic elections to bask in a family sale netting 1.8 billion dollars, tax-free, amidst crushing demands that he resign. He resigned from office as a disgraced politician. The following letter was written by me to him a year before he resigned.
___________________________________________________________________________________
May 9, 2005
Thaksin Shinawatra Prime Minister of Thailand
Government House
Phitsanuloc Road
Bangkok, 10300
Thailand
Dear Sir:
When I attended the 11th UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Criminal Justice held in Bangkok in April, I was one of the persons who accepted your government’s offer to visit two of your country’s prisons. I wanted to see if the allegations in the Internet that stated that your prison system is a disgrace, had any validity to them. What follows is a sample of what I recently found written in the Internet.
Klong Prem Central prison was originally a temporary prison established in 1944, and later changed to a vocational training centre. In 1960 the prison was so overcrowded that the Interior Ministry established a temporary new prison within the same compound by dividing one part into a vocational training centre and the other part into the Lard Yao central prison. In 1970, the Interior Ministry separated the two prisons and the Lard Yayo was upgraded to Klong Prem Central and the old prison was renamed the Bangkok Special Prison.
Built in 1930's Bang Kwang is a Maximum Security Prison which holds inmates who are serving more than 25 years. Bang Kwang also holds prisoners whose appeals are pending in the Appeal Court and the Surpreme Court and Death Sentence Prisoners waiting for execution.
Overcrowding is an understatement as 20 or more inmates sleep side by side in small concrete cells with a bare bulb shining all night long. An open shit hole in the corner which all the men use. Origionally built to hold a few thousand inmates, it now holds over 8000.
Food consists of one meal a day of red rice in a dirty looking broth devoid of vegetables or meat. If you are lucky there may be a fish head or some other object with the promise of nutrition. Some resort to eating cockroaches, which swarm all over the place.
Punishment is common in Bang Kwang, from a random (and regular) whack with a cane to the wearing of leg shackles (denied by the prison authorities even when photos of leg shackles on prisoners are shown in the Internet). Beatings are common and are dispensed by guards and prisoners alike. Those poor souls unlucky enough to be put in the hole (solitary confinement) can spend months at a time in complete darkeness.
The hospital isn’t much better and those unlucky enough to end up there are usually there to die. TB, HIV, Hepatitus, along with disentry, fungal diseases, scabies and a host of other tropical diseases are common and can spread through the prison like wildfire. If you do fall sick (which is extremely likley) you have to pay for the medicine yourself. Most of the poorer inmates simply die. The pictures in the Internet (that were shown on Thai TV) show the prison conditions even more graphically.
That part of your country’s prison system that we who attended the 11th Congress were shown was the vocational training centre. Naturally I was impressed as were the other conferees. But being shown the vocational centre of your prison in Bangkok was not unlike being shown a beautiful woman in a bikini. What we were shown was most interesting. However, it was what was unseen that really tantalized my curiosity.
In 1999, Amnesty International stated on the Internet and I quote;
Prison conditions often constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, characterized by prolonged shackling in heavy chains, prolonged solitary confinement, and beatings for routine infractions of prison rules. Overcrowding and medical neglect are also ongoing problems. As a result of the economic downturn, prison conditions appear to have deteriorated further, including more overcrowding and a cut in food rations.
In 2001, Amnesty International in a report stated;
Torture and ill-treatment in prisons after people are tried and sentenced for criminal offences also occur in some cell blocks of prisons, which are under the control of the Corrections Department. Beatings and kicks are generally the form of punishment given to inmates on suspicion of breaking prison regulations. ''Trusties'', who are selected by prison officials for special privileges, are often the agents of such practices. Reports of ''trusties'' (also known as ''blue shirts'') beating prisoners with impunity are common. Such treatment occurred frequently in Building 2 of Lard Yao Men's Prison, Nonthaburi Province, on the outskirts of Bangkok. According to informed sources, Building Chiefs in prisons have almost complete power and in practice are not held accountable to the Prison Governor. Some of them are reported to be conscientious, but others permit torture and ill-treatment of inmates by prison guards and ''trusties''. Some also reportedly collect bribes on a regular basis from the prisoners for privileges, including sleeping space in a cell.
Naturally, I am curious as to whether much has changed since then.
I appreciate the fact that prisoners are not to be coddled (especially drug traffickers and murderers ) and that the prison experience should act as a deterrent but I think that your country should look to countries like Canada where we treat our prisoners in a more humane manner irrespective of their crimes.
My wife and I attended your reception and we were impressed with your speech. I chose however not to meet with you because of my fear that I would feel compelled to tell you of my concerns about the treatment of your prisoners and I didn’t want to say anything to you at that time that would spoil your evening. Hence, I am writing you instead.
As a person trained in criminal justice (as I too have been) you perhaps more than anyone else in Thailand can appreciate the need for improvement in your prison system.
If the treatment of prisoners in a country can be read as the barometer of civilization in that country, then unfortunately Thailand, a nation which is reknown as the country of smiles, has a barometer reading that is extremely low.
It is my fervent wish that some day, your Bang Kwang prison in Bangkok will appear to all who are invited to visit your prison system, ( and not just the façade ) as a beautiful woman and not as a decrepit old hag.
I remain,
Respectfully yours
Dahn Batchelor C.Crim. C.Fam. PLL
NOTE: He didn’t reply to my letter.
___________________________________________________________________________________
May 9, 2005
Thaksin Shinawatra Prime Minister of Thailand
Government House
Phitsanuloc Road
Bangkok, 10300
Thailand
Dear Sir:
When I attended the 11th UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Criminal Justice held in Bangkok in April, I was one of the persons who accepted your government’s offer to visit two of your country’s prisons. I wanted to see if the allegations in the Internet that stated that your prison system is a disgrace, had any validity to them. What follows is a sample of what I recently found written in the Internet.
Klong Prem Central prison was originally a temporary prison established in 1944, and later changed to a vocational training centre. In 1960 the prison was so overcrowded that the Interior Ministry established a temporary new prison within the same compound by dividing one part into a vocational training centre and the other part into the Lard Yao central prison. In 1970, the Interior Ministry separated the two prisons and the Lard Yayo was upgraded to Klong Prem Central and the old prison was renamed the Bangkok Special Prison.
Built in 1930's Bang Kwang is a Maximum Security Prison which holds inmates who are serving more than 25 years. Bang Kwang also holds prisoners whose appeals are pending in the Appeal Court and the Surpreme Court and Death Sentence Prisoners waiting for execution.
Overcrowding is an understatement as 20 or more inmates sleep side by side in small concrete cells with a bare bulb shining all night long. An open shit hole in the corner which all the men use. Origionally built to hold a few thousand inmates, it now holds over 8000.
Food consists of one meal a day of red rice in a dirty looking broth devoid of vegetables or meat. If you are lucky there may be a fish head or some other object with the promise of nutrition. Some resort to eating cockroaches, which swarm all over the place.
Punishment is common in Bang Kwang, from a random (and regular) whack with a cane to the wearing of leg shackles (denied by the prison authorities even when photos of leg shackles on prisoners are shown in the Internet). Beatings are common and are dispensed by guards and prisoners alike. Those poor souls unlucky enough to be put in the hole (solitary confinement) can spend months at a time in complete darkeness.
The hospital isn’t much better and those unlucky enough to end up there are usually there to die. TB, HIV, Hepatitus, along with disentry, fungal diseases, scabies and a host of other tropical diseases are common and can spread through the prison like wildfire. If you do fall sick (which is extremely likley) you have to pay for the medicine yourself. Most of the poorer inmates simply die. The pictures in the Internet (that were shown on Thai TV) show the prison conditions even more graphically.
That part of your country’s prison system that we who attended the 11th Congress were shown was the vocational training centre. Naturally I was impressed as were the other conferees. But being shown the vocational centre of your prison in Bangkok was not unlike being shown a beautiful woman in a bikini. What we were shown was most interesting. However, it was what was unseen that really tantalized my curiosity.
In 1999, Amnesty International stated on the Internet and I quote;
Prison conditions often constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, characterized by prolonged shackling in heavy chains, prolonged solitary confinement, and beatings for routine infractions of prison rules. Overcrowding and medical neglect are also ongoing problems. As a result of the economic downturn, prison conditions appear to have deteriorated further, including more overcrowding and a cut in food rations.
In 2001, Amnesty International in a report stated;
Torture and ill-treatment in prisons after people are tried and sentenced for criminal offences also occur in some cell blocks of prisons, which are under the control of the Corrections Department. Beatings and kicks are generally the form of punishment given to inmates on suspicion of breaking prison regulations. ''Trusties'', who are selected by prison officials for special privileges, are often the agents of such practices. Reports of ''trusties'' (also known as ''blue shirts'') beating prisoners with impunity are common. Such treatment occurred frequently in Building 2 of Lard Yao Men's Prison, Nonthaburi Province, on the outskirts of Bangkok. According to informed sources, Building Chiefs in prisons have almost complete power and in practice are not held accountable to the Prison Governor. Some of them are reported to be conscientious, but others permit torture and ill-treatment of inmates by prison guards and ''trusties''. Some also reportedly collect bribes on a regular basis from the prisoners for privileges, including sleeping space in a cell.
Naturally, I am curious as to whether much has changed since then.
I appreciate the fact that prisoners are not to be coddled (especially drug traffickers and murderers ) and that the prison experience should act as a deterrent but I think that your country should look to countries like Canada where we treat our prisoners in a more humane manner irrespective of their crimes.
My wife and I attended your reception and we were impressed with your speech. I chose however not to meet with you because of my fear that I would feel compelled to tell you of my concerns about the treatment of your prisoners and I didn’t want to say anything to you at that time that would spoil your evening. Hence, I am writing you instead.
As a person trained in criminal justice (as I too have been) you perhaps more than anyone else in Thailand can appreciate the need for improvement in your prison system.
If the treatment of prisoners in a country can be read as the barometer of civilization in that country, then unfortunately Thailand, a nation which is reknown as the country of smiles, has a barometer reading that is extremely low.
It is my fervent wish that some day, your Bang Kwang prison in Bangkok will appear to all who are invited to visit your prison system, ( and not just the façade ) as a beautiful woman and not as a decrepit old hag.
I remain,
Respectfully yours
Dahn Batchelor C.Crim. C.Fam. PLL
NOTE: He didn’t reply to my letter.
posted by Dahn Batchelor | 7:00 AM
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