Reader question: Visiting detainee in Thailand
March 16 2021
Dear readers,
Hi, I'm Alex Harder and I've been living in Thailand for quite some time now. Now with the corona outbreak I often think of the people who are imprisoned here. It is already inhumane outside let alone in prisons. I feel I have to do something and hope to receive some more information through this way.
Maybe through family members or friends back home so I can visit and take some much-needed stuff with me and have a chat with the detainee. I live not too far from Bangkok (170 km) and would like to do something.
I hope you can help me further or how I can get in touch with family.
Regards,
Alex
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There are various (voluntary) organizations from the Netherlands working on this theme. Please contact them. https://www.joho.org/en/bezoek-gedetineerden-buitenlandse-gevangenissen
https://www.epafras.nl/organisatie/
Currently, indefinite visits to prisoners in Thailand are not possible due to the covid restrictions.
It is not easy to go to visit if you are not related, then someone from the family who has the authority to arrange things for the prisoner in question will first have to give you official permission.
Your visit will also depend on the visiting possibilities of the family, there are only a limited number of visits possible per month, probably only one, at most you could go with a member of the family, but whether the prisoner is very happy with that is of course the question.
The rules seem to differ somewhat per prison.
Furthermore, you should not believe all ghost stories about Thai prisons.
The prisons where the serious criminals are sent to can undoubtedly be hell, but in the normal prisons the rule applies: behave yourself and you will be treated nicely.
The prisoners also get enough to eat and good food, but little meat, so no fish heads with rice.
There are also job training courses, for which the prisoners receive a certificate, so that it is easier for them to find a job later on.
The biggest problem in prisons is overcrowding, but you can't blame the prison, it's not bigger.
Incidentally, this overcrowding is currently being tackled by sending prisoners who behave well and have spent a minimum period in prison with an ankle bracelet fitted with a GPS tracker.
I have a very different experience with that than Ruud, a relative of my Thai girlfriend was in prison somewhere near Korat, and because that was very far for the family, he received few visitors.
I suggested renting a van with a driver and we set off with 9 people, not knowing if so many would be allowed in, including me as a farang.
Once there, there was no problem at all, I was also welcome, after about half an hour of waiting we were all allowed to go to another room and there we could talk to the relevant family member via a monitor and telephone.
So very distant, he did say that the food was minimal, you could buy extra food for him there, but he didn't want that because there was a good chance that someone else would eat it, we could deposit money with the prison staff so that he himself could buy extra food when he needed it.
He has now been released for a year and a half, he said that the money was kept neatly, so no corruption there, but furthermore that the treatment was sometimes very bad, he also missed a front tooth because he did not finish brushing his teeth in time, there were them 30 seconds before and because he didn't make it once, he was hit on the mouth with a baton, which cost him a tooth, and if you are released then there is no shelter whatsoever, you have to figure it out yourself.
Much will depend on the guards and the leadership.
Sadists exist everywhere.
Possibly he was also in a prison where the serious criminals end up, the life of the guards will also be more dangerous there and he may have been a difficult prisoner himself.
The prisons have a store where the prisoners can buy things with a thumb print, food, coke, toothpaste and other things.
You can deposit money into someone's account at the prison, or transfer it through the bank.
If I remember correctly, you could always visit if you came from outside the province, but maybe this has been adjusted, because nowadays you can easily move from one province to another.
Normally when you visit the prison you see the prisoner behind a glass window and you can talk on the 'phone'.
There is also the possibility to talk to the prisoner from home via a line connection.
In that respect, you could have saved yourself that trip.
@johan combe: In Khon Kaen, the visit has never been stopped, there was a rule that no longer allowed visitors above, or perhaps from 60 years old, because of the corona.
No one has ever been able to explain to me why that made sense.
That rule has recently been abolished, there is no corona in Khon Kaen, it was said.
A great initiative, but why not orphans, elders, psychiatric cases, put a heart under the belt. Institutions for the blind, boarding schools for the disadvantaged. Plenty of choice, but I limit myself to a monthly contribution to a widow in the village who takes care of her left behind grandchildren. She receives no support from the municipality, no income of 1000 Baht per month and some limited help from family and neighbors. And so there are a number of people in every municipality who will appreciate your help. Good luck with your choice.
@Hans: you should talk to the village chief, because the government has already had various programs in which poor people receive money.
At the moment there is a program of 4.000 Baht, 4 times 1.000 B in 4 weeks.
Good tip Rudy. I'll ask if anyone is aware of this. Thanks in advance.
When money is obtained from the banks, NOT only the needy are queuing up, often they have a butt with debts, state aid often goes from ATM to sharks, and in fact they have nothing yet,
Terrible but true in many cases.