Original Story


Destination    : Thailand  > Bangkok 
Journal name   : Bangkok By Bus and River Taxi
Guide pen name : Sarah Zimmerman  
 
Date of Entry  : 8/9/2000
              
Subject        : Visiting Your Country Mates Behind Bars


Here is an alternative to the regular sightseeing that can be done in Bangkok. 
When I was there recently I kept seeing little bulletins posted in guesthouses and 
restaraunts listing names of Canadians that were in jail at the Bangkwang central Prison. 
The bulletins were encouraging other Canadians, or whoever, to go to the jail to visit a
prisoner. I saw the same for other nationalities too. 

I can't imagine what it would be like to be in prison in a country like Thailand, but I'm
pretty sure that it would suck. And I'm also pretty sure that I would love visitors
whether I knew them or not. 

So, I decided to go. I had a prisoners name, his cell block number and wrote down
when he could have visitors. I jumped on a river taxi, rode for about 45 minutes and
went to meet a guy I didn't know from a hole in the ground just because I thought I
should. 

The whole experience was pretty weird. I had to sign in at one building, then cross the
street to get to the prison's visiting quarters. The visiting area is, incidently, lovely: 
palm trees, lush green bushes with red flowers, big open courtyard...weird. 

Anyway, the guy I met had been busted smuggling a lot of pretty serious drugs out of
the country. The thing is, he says he was set up- and boy, did he have a story to tell.

The writers of James Bond movies have nothing on the story he told me. I'm not sure
how much is true, or how much is simply a product of being in a Thai prison for seven
years, but I'm glad I went. 

If nothing else, going to that prison opened my eyes up to a part of Thailand I never put
a thought to. I also realized that people have to be so careful in foreign countries. He
involved himself, admittedly, in the drug scene, but he says he was never involved in
trafficking--regardless, he was involved somehow in illegal activity and when you are
overseas you play by their rules and the consequences can be pretty bleak.