Imprisoned in a giant oven (Na Rorn/Hot Season)

April arrives and we are once again reminded why the Thais call this part of the year ‘Na Rorn’ or the hot season. Temperatures soar and humidity levels peak at 99%. We feel as though we have been imprisoned in a giant oven as air temperatures creep way up into the forty degree plus region everyday, the heat compounded in our living area by the low peaked roof. The sun beats for hours on the fibre roof tiles which act as a natural radiator and superheat the air trapped beneath which in turn is forced down onto those of us below by large, suspended, electrically driven fans in a kind of blast furnace effect.

Even on windy days we are starved of a cooling breeze because the high walls surrounding us on all four sides stand taller than our roofed area and thus act as a windbreak. These weather beaten walls, the cracked and flaking whitewash on them stained by green and black mould after decades of being exposed to the tropics, reflect the sunlight and heat back in on us causing us to squint in the bright light as rivulets of sweat run down our temples and backs.

The air is cloying and fetid, heavy with the rancid stench of sewage and rotting detrius from the open waste drainage channels that criss-cross our living space, connecting with the main channel that circles the entire building just inside the perimeter walls. The sewer has its own unique tidal system, high and low ‘tides’ dictated by the time of day, the level of the nearby river or the weather conditions. ‘High tides’ are usually during the first hour or so after the unlocking of our cells in the mornings, the peak period for showering from the huge troughs in the prison yard filled with river water.

The river itself is tidal up as far as Nonthaburi and a high river level can mean a ‘high tide’ in Bangkwangs network of sewer channels which ordinarily discharge their waste untreated into the river. When the river is high there is nowhere for the waste to go and the one and a half foot deep channels can be less than a quarter of an inch from overflowing and flooding our living area, but this often happens anyway when a sudden downpour of rain momentarily raises river levels and completely overwhelms the poorly planned system forcing us to wade around in the muck.

When the ‘tide’ is out the channels are left partially filled with stinking sludge, the walls of the channel thick with green slime and crawling with nasty looking creatures. The heat soon dries the slime and it cracks and peels from the concrete in large flakes and bubbles, just like the ancient coat of whitewash on the perimeter walls. Flies are everywhere. The sludge begins to bubble too in the heat and gives off obnoxious belches of gas, rather like the steaming woks of curry simmering away on charcoal stoves nearby. Lunch is almost ready.

Stomach and intestinal worms are the bane of our lives here, picked up easily through the dirty water and poor quality meat so we take regular courses of worming tablets, sent in by friends, in order to combat them. Every now and again however, a tape worm or some other species of these parasitical beasties (I’m no expert) will show up swimming around in the cell latrine, having been excreted and left behind by one of us. When this happens we dose ourselves up with yet more worming tablets and look for signs of extermination in the obvious way.

One day I was taking my usual shower from my own chemical drum plotted up next to the sewer and wall separating us from building 5. The sewer channel was in a state of ‘mid-tide’ and loads of scummy water was flowing past where lots of other inmates were also showering from their own drums. I was just spitting a mouthful of foamy toothpaste into the mire when I caught site of something truly disgusting, for swimming amongst the lumps of turd that had overflowed from the holding tank of the yard latrines further upstream, was a huge tapeworm about 7 or 8 inches long and the thickness of my index finger, its body a sickly albino white colour where it had grown undetected in the blind darkness of somebody’s gut. I almost puked when I realised what it was but still called a mate over to look in case the apparition was a product of my own imagination.

Peter leaned over me to get a closer look, his hands gripping my shoulders to prevent him from slipping and falling in.

“What the fuck is that?!” He gasped disbelievingly.

“I don’t know but I think it’s out of someone’s arse” I replied as we both leaned in a little closer to watch the worm writhing blindly in the river of shit, it’s dozens of little legs fanning desperately trying to gain some inertia against the flow.

“Aarrgh! Tell me you’re joking right?” He said but a glance at my face, mouth aghast and toothpaste dripping from my chin, told him that I was serious. This was identical to the tapeworms I’d seen swimming in our cell latrine, only one hell of a lot bigger! Pity the poor bastard who had been hosting that monster, but how many more of us I wondered?

The hot season is traditionally the time of year that the building authorities start placing restrictions on our freshwater and power supplies, and this year has been no exception.

The steel gate into the small area where the mains water standpipes are located is kept locked by blueshirt prisoners under orders to restrict the amount of water used by other inmates. The compound is opened twice daily for an hour each time to allow people to collect fresh water but individuals are strictly rationed as to how much they can take. A person returning to the standpipe for a second or third time will have his name taken by a presiding blueshirt and threatened to be ‘Ghosted’ out to another building, unless of course he can come up with a suitable bribe for the officer in charge, in which case he can then take as much as he wants.

This ‘rationing’ of fresh water is strictly in contention with international law which says that prisoners must have access to drinking water 24 hours a day but that’s the least worry on the directors mind as the consumption of more water during the hot season eats into the funds he has skimmed from the Governments budget. This rationing will continue until we are well into the rainy season, some months away.

The restriction of electrical power to prisoner living areas is also a favorite method to shave money from the budget and thus leave more up for grabs for corrupt prison officials. Last year we suffered a month or more of all day power cuts to our daily living area which left us without power for the fans or water pumps which pump river water with which to flush the latrines by hand. We sweated and the place stank to high heaven while the factory sweatshops and guards offices enjoyed continuous supply of power. A lot of resentment built up amongst the prisoner population who where forced to suffer while air conditioning units, TV’s and fans were left running all day cooling and supplying entertainment to empty offices. The authorities had no compunction about burning Government funds for their own comfort but went to an extreme, removing fuses and opening breakers, to make certain that we prisoners did not benefit.

So far this hot season, we have been lucky and the power has only been cut occasionally, but its early days yet!