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). Beatings are common and are dispenced 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 darkness.

Bangkwang's prison guards are out-numbered by inmates 50-1

POWER CUTS WHICH LINE THE POCKET’S OF PRISON GUARDS

This don’t look good I say to my mate, as we watch countless push carts stacked meters high with plastic bags of charcoal enter our prison yard, these small bags of charcoal are sold at a extortionate price to prisoners by the guards, 3 times the price of the outside community and very poor quality at that.

This month “May” is probably the hottest in the Thai calendar year, where temperatures reach over 40 degrees centigrade not to mention the extreme Humidity.

The following day without warning at the busiest and most essential time when prisoners are boiling water and cooking their food, on what few electric appliances we possess. The guards cut the electric, everything is out including the over head fan.

Under the asbestos roof within minutes we are soaked in sweat and temperatures rise to 50 plus degrees centigrade. The temperature feels worse as we are completely enclosed by concrete and the asbestos roof, no air, no wind at all stirs. It’s a oven! Not a electric oven though!

The 5 guards cosy little offices equipped with every kind of electrical appliance Air conditioning, T.V., fridge etc. etc. even a few man servants each per guard i.e. trustee prisoners and all 7 sweat shop factories all have electric! That’s funny! This power cut is only effecting the prisoners and areas of the prison yard that don’t line the pockets with money of the corrupt prison guards.

2 weeks now this has been going on, we are back to the stone age with everybody cooking on charcoal in metal clay inserted buckets.

Of course the sale of charcoal has made the guards pockets even fuller and bulging with money than they already are.

Enquiries over the past 2 weeks all come to the same conclusive facts:- That each building within the prison is allocated a set amount of electric. Priority to which areas and prisoners who receive that electric within the building, as with all the sweat shop factories and cosy little guard houses running air conditioning and TV’s all day long, there is not enough electric to go around, and the guards within each building allocate the electric to line their own pockets or for their own comfort.

There is corruption, layers deep here, a bottomless pit, but basically (one layer only) the guards skim off and receive massive backhanders from the factories.

It is also said that the electric is kept to a minimum or not at all in only areas which don’t line pockets of guards, as they also skim off money from the Government allocated budget for electric.

Corruption here is on a scale incomprehensible to the western mind, layers upon layers, corruption upon corruption and indeed a bottomless pit!

But I promise you this, I will try and explain it in a future article even if I do have to expand the capacity of this web site to fit it in.

Meanwhile we live in incredible temperatures in the 50,s and a haze of smoke, carrying buckets of water with us to the toilets as the electric pump which serves the toilet is also not priority!