HIGH RATE OF DEATHS IN CUSTODY

Prisons in Thailand have a high rate of deaths in custody from beatings and diseases such as Aids and Tuberculosis.

Many prisoners with a wide variety of diseases, some of them life threatening and contagious, receive no treatment.

The hospital medical doctor reported that the hospital only receives £ 3.00 (three pounds sterling per year per patient)

Reliable reports indicate that there is on average one death per week in Bangkwang Prison. If inmates become seriously ill at night in the cells no prison officials responds to their calls for help. Some of them die in their cells (dormitories) but the bodies are not removed until the following morning.

 

 

 

     

Please help by signing Steve’s petition. It takes 30 seconds and will really help. Please forward this Website to all your friends and ask them to sign his Petition

 

THE KING’S PARDON EXPLAINED

This also known as a Royal Pardon or a Petition for executive clemency.

A Pardon can only be given by his Majesty the King of Thailand. Executive clemency may be a better expression. Pardon is usually interpreted as forgiveness, amounting to removal of suggestion of liability for fault, thus pardon can easily be interpreted as a signal of innocence. Executive clemency is a signal of compassion and kindness with the issue of guilt left outstanding.

 

My own pardon is based on compelling compassionate circumstances as quoted in the foreign and commonwealth office strict criteria.

Such as:- where continued incarceration is likely to endanger life or is likely to reduce life expectancy significantly, (particularly when prison conditions overseas are poor), and a transfer from Thailand could not be completed within a reasonable time frame.

 

On the criteria code relating to a pardon in Thailand again compelling compassionate circumstances concerning my immediate family, and the severity of my sentence for a relatively small amount of drugs (25 grams). I also fit Thailand’s criteria given the necessary UK government backing.

Following page this page down will explain the exact information of my pardon, but first let me explain a little more of the process and requirement of a pardon.

 

A pardon is a possibility but is only likely to succeed with support of the British Embassy here in Thailand and their support is only given if there is strong medical grounds e.g. terminal illness.

Although I most certainly fit the criteria of the foreign and commonwealth office in London, so far they’ve refused both my mothers and my request for their support and more recently they also refused my cousin requesting their support on my behalf. We’ve not given up hope and continue to URGE them to adhere to the policy set down and adopted by them.

Without the FCO or other prominent figures such as: The Prime Minister Tony Blair, The Queen or one of the members of the Royal Family, my Kings Pardon will surely be rejected. With support of anyone of the above mentioned my pardon will be given.

Pardons can only be submitted at two- yearly intervals and a time period of at least 6 months must have passed since confirmation of your sentence, and you have no impending appeals. If a pardon is rejected you must wait a further period of 2 more years from the time of that rejection, before you are able to apply again.

It’s a slow lengthy process and as a general rule British Citizens can expect to wait between 2 ½ - 5 years after submitting their pardon until they get a response.

In April this year (2006) I will have served 3 years of my 33 ½ year sentence. For arguments sake lets say my pardon was submitted at that time rather than this month February 2006 when it was actually submitted.

I don’t claim to be innocent, I’ am guilty of a crime of possession of 25 grams of drugs in my own house for my own consumption. Is not 3 years in this hell not ‘Just’ punishment for my crime already?

 

Now let me show you the most possible outcome if I fail to get support for my pardon. I’ am going to base my calculations on the FACT THAT IT TAKES ON AVERAGE, ARROUND 5 YEARS to get a response from submitting a pardon! And the way my luck has gone, I expect nothing else.

• Period of time already served in prison before I was ‘legally’ able to submit my petition for a pardon: 3 years
• Average time a British citizen can expect to wait before receiving a response to his/her petition: 5 years
• My pardon is rejected first time round (due to lack of official support) which often happens. I now have an enforced waiting period before I can submit a new petition for a Pardon: 2 years
• Once again the average period I can expect to wait before receiving a response:

                        5 years

    

                                          TOTAL 15 YEARS

 

Assuming that I now receive a ‘full’ pardon (though a simple reduction in my sentence is a more likely outcome) my first and only child, my son Oak, who was born the year I was sent to prison, will now be preparing to leave school. He has spent 15 of his most formative years without a father to turn to. Assuming again, that I am at last released, Oak, who will be facing some of life’s most important decisions, will have the added stress of having a father returned to him whom he has never really known.

 

If the foreign and commonwealth office in London were only to adhere to the policy laid down and actually supported my petition for a pardon first time round, and assuming that I then received a ‘full’ pardon (no guarantees) I would have already served, perhaps 8-10 years for a charge involving only 25 grams of drugs.

Without official support from prominent figures and the FCO I am doomed to serving 15 years or more before a chance of release.

HOW LONG MY SON OAK WILL SERVE IS ANYONES GUESS?