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

Or you can look at his website for more information http://garyjones.50megs.com
Emails can be sent to him via the prison, put ‘Gary Graeme Jones, D2’ in the subject and send the email to bkprison@hotmail.com.

Disclaimer: The information in this article has been provided by Gary Jones and Citylife cannot verify all of the points stated.