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http://thailandprisonersupport.org
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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Bangkwang Central Prison in Nonthaburi, Thailand is an infamous prison, referred to by the Thais as The Big Tiger, for its ability to ‘eat men alive.’ Bangkwang houses approximately 8000 men, approximately 10% of whom are foreigners. Most prisoners at Bangkwang are serving sentences for drug charges. Thailand’s laws penalize drug offenses severely, and Thailand’s justice system can only be described as lengthy, corrupt, unfair and inefficient, at best. Those convicted of drug offenses typically receive sentences ranging from 40 - 100 years if they plead guilty, and the death penalty, if they plead innocent.
Prisoners are locked in the crowded cells or hallways from 4 pm until 7 am, where they sleep side by side on the ground. The room is lit 24-hours per day by fluorescent bulbs. During the day, prisoners are free to roam around the compound and cook their own food on burners but everything that a prisoner needs must be purchased, including : food, toiletries, soap, writing paper, drinking water, for example. Prisoners with no money to purchase their own food receive a bowl of prison rice with a fish head or vegetable scraps.
Some Western countries such as England, Canada, and Australia may provide small loans to help cover the cost of purchasing basic necessities, but non-Western inmates are forced to work for other inmates or to rely on donations in order to survive. See The Most Forgotten…
Overcrowding, lack of proper sanitation, open sewage and garbage and severe stress all contribute to rampant skin diseases, open sores, stomach ailments, TB, HIV, dysentery, cholera, Hepatitis A, B & C, and more. Severe emotional stress and abuse contribute to high rates of mental illness, including high rates of depression and suicides. The prison hospital is severely underfunded and there is no medical treatment for non-Thai prisoners for injury or illness, not even antibiotics for common, easily preventable infections, unless one purchases ’ medical care’ at extortion rates.
Upon arrival at Bangkwang, prisoners must wear heavy leg-irons that are welded to their legs and only removed about a year. Death Row inmates must wear these leg-irons permanently, bathing themselves while shackled, enduring painful open sores where the leg-irons rub raw the ankles.
The conditions inside this infamous prison have slowly improved in recent years, for example, there is now running water, rather than polluted river water, with which the prisoners can wash. For those with money to buy their necessities and luxuries, Bangkwang is ’survivable.’ Far too many inmates, however, have no support from family or friends, and almost all are in need of emotional support and visitations. Basic items like clothing, vitamins, paper, stamps and food make a huge difference in these people’s lives, as does the friendship of a pen-pal or visitor from the outside world.
Prisoner Support at Bang Kwang Prison, Nonthaburi, Thailand:
*I visit foreign prisoners to offer psychosocial support and bear witness to their lives. I bring care packages with fresh fruit, books, pens, writing paper, art supplies, magazines, articles of clothing, cigarettes, antibiotic ointments, toiletries, multi-vitamins, antacid tablets, and other much-needed items.
* I maintain correspondence with prisoners and facilitate pen-pal relationships between poorer prisoners and people wanting to offer friendship and support to an incarcerated person far from home.
* I educate community groups, school groups, and travelers about the conditions of foreign inmates at Bangkwang prison, and encourage them to support or visit prisoners.
* I welcome donations of money or items for care packages to make the life of foreign inmates more bearable and can deposit money directly into prisoners’ accounts when at the prison.
* I encourage people to visit prisoners, especially the poorer ones who have no visitors, and have brought many people to Bangkwang prison.
* I advocate on prisoners’ behalf, networking with rights’ groups and educating various organizations about their citizens’ situations in Thai prisons.
I fund this unpaid work on my own and through private donations. Luna-Rose Prisoner Support Society is a registered Canadian non-profit society and welcomes any donations.
A simple letter from someone outside can lift the spirits of someone who is facing years or a lifetime locked away from home. Luna-Rose Support volunteers write to inmates to support.
I bring volunteers to the prison to visit a poorer inmate who may have no visitors.
This support work I do is fully volunteer - funded entirely from my own pockets and passion, as well as from fundraising events in my community. Please donate anything you can - money to help pay for this support work… any contribution is greatly appreciated - and supports me bringing much-needed support and food to the poorest prisoners.
Thank You!
To make a contribution, please make pay-pal donation or mail a cheque to:
Luna-Rose Prisoner Support Society, 295 Stevens Road, Salt Spring Island, BC. CANADA V8K 1W5
1. I will provide the name and building number of an inmate wishing a pen-pal in English or another language. I try to provide a name of someone from non-Western country, such as Nepal or Burma, as these prisoners have few visitors, and little or no support. (You are not expected or obligated to support them financially. The purpose is to have a pen-pal.)
2. Write a letter introducing yourself, how you got their name, where you come from, interests, hobbies, etc. Write as if you are meeting anyone for the first time and therefore sharing interesting, but not highly personal information.
3. Send the letter to :
Prisoner Name, Building Number
Bangkwang Prison,
117 Nonthaburi Road,
Nonthaburi,
11000 Thailand.
Letters do not always make it through the prison bureaucracy. If you receive no reply in 6 -8 weeks, try again. It’s worth it! A few minutes or hours of your time will make a huge difference in someone’s life. All letters that make it through will be gratefully received and deeply appreciated.
You should assume all letters are read by prison officials. To avoid negative repercussions on the prisoner, please adhere to these important guidelines…
BangKwang Men’s Prison: I can provide the name and building number of an inmate wishing a visit or you can obtain a list of inmates from your local Embassy. Mondays & Wednesdays are visiting days for inmates in buildings 2 & 3, Tuesdays & Thursdays for those in buildings 4 & 6. Plan to arrive at the prison to register by about 9 a.m. for a morning visitation that can last until roughly 11:30 a.m. Bring your passport and any books or food for the prisoner. Items can also be purchased at the prison shop. Dress respectfully.
* To get to Bangkwang from Bangkok, take the regular, orange-flagged river-boat North to the last stop, pier # 30, Nonthaburi. This trip takes only 25 minutes from the Bang Lampu area (pier #13) and costs 13 baht (about 45 cents CDN). Exiting the pier, take the first road to the left and walk 5 minutes along this boulevard. On your right will become apparent the high walls and guard tower of Bangkwang prison.
OR take a taxi from anywhere in greater Bangkok at a cost of 100 - 300 baht ($3 to $10 CDN), depending on your location.
* Register directly across the street from the prison main gates, purchasing a 2-baht photocopy of your passport, and wait 10 - 30 minutes while the officials process your paperwork. Then, cross the street and enter the prison, where you will have to go through a metal detector and surrender any items such as purse, money, cell phone, to be locked in a locker. Guards will inspect any food or clothinng you wish to bring to the prisoner and the rules about what is allowed in change daily, often arbitrarily. Documents and books need to be inspected and stamped at the foreign section before entering the prison. It is not helpful to complain if the items you bring are disallowed that particular day. Many items disallowed at the gates can be easily mailed to the prisoner from any post office in Bangkok and will be given to the inmate. You will be able to converse through telephones with the prisoner for about 90 minutes.
Note: SMILE AND BE RESPECTFUL TO THE GUARDS AND OFFICIALS - cultivating a respectful relationship at the prison is critical.
PLEASE ALSO CONSIDER GOING TO THE WOMEN’S PRISON - THE WOMEN GET FAR FEWER VISITORS AND PRIVILEGES THAN DO THE MEN - IT WILL MEAN A GREAT DEAL TO THEM! For a list of women prisoners to visit and how to do so, please visit: www.usp.com.au/fpss/pris-lardyao-women.html
While the conditions in Thai prisons are difficult for all prisoners, they are especially hard for the economically-marginalized, such as the Burmese, Laotian, or Nepali prisoners who have no consular support and no financial means to support themselves inside the prison. Ethnic-minority hill tribe people, who are treated as illegal immigrants by their own Thai government, are especially marginalized, due to language barriers and endemic racism which sees them oppressed in their own country and denied access to the same rights as the Thais. The highest proportion of non-Thais in Thai prisons are the above-mentioned groups, who, fleeing economic and political persecution in their own country, are often recruited and exploited as drug mules, sex workers, or unpaid factory workers on the promise of food or a little money to send home to their families. Once incarcerated, these poorest prisoners are especially vulnerable and must work for other inmates to secure the funds to buy food. These prisoners often receive the fewest, if any visitors, as their families are either unaware of their incarceration and lengthy prison sentences, or do not have the means to visit them. Similarly, prisoners from non-Western countries such as Russia, Nepal and South Africa have governments that do not advocate on their citizens’ behalf against the unjust lengthy Thai prison terms, and have no agreements with Thailand to re-patriate their citizens to home countries. It is these to people that Luna-Rose Prisoner Support provides visits and support.
Another group of forgotten prisoners are the women prisoners, who endure hardships often worse than in the men’s prisons. They receive far fewer visitors and are unable to receive care packages, unlike the men, who can get care items mailed to them. Please consider supporting the women prisoners by writing to or visiting a woman inmate in Thailand’s prisons. For a list of women prisoners to visit or write and how to do so, please visit: www.usp.com.au/fpss/pris-lardyao-women.html
First-hand accounts of Bangkwang:
Books: The Damage Done: Twelve Years of Hell in a Bangkok Prison by Warren Fellows.
The Last Executioner: Memoirs of Thailand’s Last Prison Executioner by Chavoret Jaruboon.
Websites:
A British inmate’s blog: www.steveatbangkwang.bravehost.com/index.html.
Foreign Prison Support Services: www.foreignprisoners.com
Burma Issues:
Websites: Free Burma Rangers: http://www.freeburmarangers.org/
Euro-Burma Office: www.euro-burma.eu
Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org
Democratic Voice of Burma News: http://english.dvb.no/
I am a Canadian activist with a background in Counselling, Education, Psychology, and international humanitarian work, specifically gbv, human trafficking, migrant worker and refugee issues, and prisoners’ issues. I spend several months every year at Bangkwang prison, Thailand, daily visiting foreign prisoners. I provide material and psychosocial support, bearing witness to the trauma and profound loneliness experienced by incarcerated people.
In Canada, I maintain correspondence with these prisoners. I speak at schools and community organizations, educating people about foreign prisoner issues in Thailand and advocating for prisoners’ right to access greater support from their home countries. In addition, I facilitate volunteers to become visitors or pen-pals of an incarcerated person in Bangkwang.
I come to this work after years of feminist activism, teaching and research on gender-based violence. A survivor of violence, this informs my commitment to activism against degrading and dehumanizing treatment. In supporting and bearing witness to the lives of prisoners, I hope to mitigate the loneliness, physical illness and acute psychological stress that can results from incarceration under difficult conditions.
Passionate about aerial silks, playback theatre, ritual hook pulls, and other practices that allow me to fly in the inbetween spaces, I hope eventually to be able to conduct theatre arts classses in Bangkwang. In August of 2010, I will be holding a prison art exhibition of sketches by a Russian prisoner at Bangkwang, in order to highlight his situation and garner support for his art work.
This prisoner support work is funded entirely from my own pocket and from contributions from people like you.
I will respond to all queries and comments. To book me to speak at your school, organization or institution:
“What should move us to action is human dignity: the inalienable dignity of the oppressed, but also the dignity of each of us. We lose dignity if we tolerate the intolerable.” — Dominique de Menil
Guidelines for Writing a Letter to an Inmate of Bangkwang Prison:
Introduce yourself, and write about your interests, hobbies, or activities so that the inmate can get to know you. Include a photo, if you wish, to put a face to the name. Write your address clearly inside the letter as well as on the envelope, in case the envelope doesn’t make it to the inmate. Let them know that you got their name from a website and that you want to be their pen-pal, not a rich benefactor.
Assume all letters are read by the guards. You can discuss freely what you want, but to avoid creating problems for the inmate: 1. do not criticize the prison system or refer to other inmates at all.
2. Do not send money or drugs. Ever. If you wish to send care packages with some clothing, toiletries, food, writing paper, etc., it will be greatly appreciated. Money orders, cheques or cash will NOT make it to the inmate.
3. Do not ask the inmate for details of his/her case, charges or sentence. If the person chooses to share that information, they will do so on their own.
4. Do not refer at all to the King of Thailand, as it is illegal to disrespect or to criticize him.
5. Do not refer to drug trafficking, prison escape plans (even as a joke), or to books or movies that deal with these scenarios (such as Midnight Express).
6. Remember to include the inmate’s building number when addressing the letter.