Aussie Woman Reveals Harrowing Tales from Infamous Thai Prison

[sambum]

"I didn’t use the toilet for a month because I was so embarrassed."

 

Taking constipation to a new level!

[Neeranam]

18 minutes ago, Flyguy330 said:

I have a question. For all you lot talking about 'she deserved it' because - drugs.

Until 2022 in Thailand, cannabis was illegal (for recreational use). Possesion was punished by fines and/or imprisonment.

Then one day, it was legalised, and everybody is doing it, selling it, growing it.

Then another day and it is declared that a ban is coming to reverse all that, and punishments will no doubt have to be imposed again.

Neighbouring countries have longstanding policies of executing people found with even small quantities of cannabis for personal use.

In many countries cannabis use and sale remains legal.

 

So my point is this - how do you judge right or wrong here? Is it JUST because it's 'illegal HERE today'? Then what if it becomes legal tomorrow - do you feel hypocritical that you now have to accept it as such?

Do you feel satisfaction when it is banned again?

I'm not a drug user (the odd glass of wine excepted) so I have no axe to grind about bans. It simply amuses me how people's 'moral compass' works, how it seems to swing around a lot. I'm interested in just that. Is chest thumping moralising really thought through?

 

I know this woman was caught with heroin, a hard drug, but the moral question remains the same.

Have at it.

Often people with legal drug addictions like cigarettes, coffee, alcohol who are trying to justify their drug is harmless. 

[nikmar]

59 minutes ago, PJ71 said:

not really

 

 

A Tale of Two Cities or Lord of the Rings v Forget You Have A Daughter!!  😀

[Bday Prang]

3 minutes ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

The majority of heroin addicts die a lot younger than they otherwise would have lived - and that includes prescriptions opioids. Sure some get clean and are 'saved' but a lot die early - both from complications sue to extended usage and also overdoses.  Plus they have a seriously high rate of 'self-harm' and they commit an extremely high rate of crime (to pay for them). 

as I said then, death is not a forgone conclusion.  Death from prescription opiates might also have something to do with the condition they were prescribed for.     Shoplifting and the other petty crime they get involved with are rarely fatal either.  Most die from overdoses (due to the wildly varying quality) or from contaminants used to dilute the drug,  both of which are a direct consequence of the drugs illegal status. 

Many more would die from alcohol  for similar reasons if it was made illegal

[sambum]

42 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Khlong Prem is not the Bangkok Hilton. 

 

Correct - The so-called “Bangkok Hilton” is usually associated with the Bang Kwang Prison in Nonthaburi

[Bday Prang]

3 hours ago, Angus55 said:

The punishment for being stupid enough to break drug laws in Thailand. Deserved all she got IMO. Should have given her the death penalty as should all convicted of trafficing in death drugs.

"death drugs"    lol

[Bday Prang]

5 hours ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

So what did she use?????

Imodium???  lol

[The Theory]

"Sorry, but deserved all she got."

perhaps too much, to compare to one gets for a brutal murder in Thailand. 

[off road pat]

4 hours ago, frank83628 said:

thats Thailand, the punishment is a punishment!
if in the UK (example), she'd have got 3 meals a day and a roast on sundays... pool tables and a tuck shop!

Humane treatment in a developed country vs inhumane treatment in a developing country !!!

[off road pat]

I hope she has a happy life from now and that the book sells well !!!

[OldBird]

If she was guilty of trafficking that poison to people then she is lucky all she got was prison. What you never hear about is the carnage left in the wake of the poison this woman trafficked!  How many kids were born with an addiction to this woman's drugs because its mother was an addict, and how many orphans were created because of the poison this woman trafficked?  Zero pity and zero sympathy!

[Ralf001]

Just now, off road pat said:

I hope she has a happy life from now and that the book sells well !!!

Proceeds of crime, surely the police will confiscate any profits.

[Kerryd]

Societies that show leniency towards the worst criminals do not show a reduction in crime.

I'm guessing that societies that take a harsh view towards serious crimes have many fewer criminals left to reoffend.

What do places like Vietnam, Singapore (and most Muslim) countries do with murderers and drug dealers ?
Little chance they'll ever re-offend - or write books about how hard they had it.

LONG read below. Feel free to skip it.
 

3 hours ago, Andre0720 said:

“A society should be judged not by how it treats its outstanding citizens but by how it treats its criminals.”

― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

That's actually a (common) misquote and is misattributed apparently.

The actual quote:

Quote

 

The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.
 

Alleged to be from Dostoevsky's House of the Dead, but no such quotation is present.

 

Is misattributed to Dostoevsky though it's hard to find who may have originally come up with it. (I've done some searching and it's the consensus that Dostoevsky never wrote that quote - but no one is sure who actually did. Most quote sites give credit to him - but can't reference where the quote was written and it's NOT "Crime and Punishment" either.)

Dostoevsky had been arrested in 1849 and sentenced to death for being a member of a conspiracy plot. He was taken to a spot to be executed along with 8 others in late Dec. They were divided into 3 groups with Dostoevsky in the 2nd group. As the first group was being lined up to be shot, a courier arrived with a note from Tsar Nicholas I commuting their sentences. They were then sent to prison where Dostoevsky spent nearly 5 years in harsh conditions.
He was released in early 1854.
His book "House of the Dead" was published in 1861 and the first parts of Crime and Punishment 5 years later.

AND - it is very possible the quote does NOT mean what most people think it does.

While it may not have been Dostoevsky that wrote it, it probably was another Russian. Perhaps a friend or fellow writer.

And that person may have thought that locking people in prisons for life was cruel and unusual punishment and that they should be given quick, painless executions instead.

That is actually a sentiment that many people believe today, though many of them also don't believe in capital punishment. (Which begs the question they don't like being asked - if you won't execute prisoners and think locking them up for long periods is inhumane - then how do you think society should deal with murderers, rapists, drug dealers, war criminals and the like ?)

In any event - places like Thailand still believe that (poor) people who break the law should be punished. Not sent to country resorts where they spend their time idling in luxury at the taxpayer's expense. (That's saved for the rich, powerful and politically connected criminals of course.)

I mean - sheesh - a few years ago a Canadian with a long history of criminal convictions and prison time came to Thailand using "stolen" ID (that was never reported as stolen of course).
After a year here, he murdered his girlfriend, mutilated her face, dismembered her body and discarded the remains in a local swamp before hopping on a plane back to Canada - still using that "stolen" ID.

He was arrested - for violating his probation - and sent to prison. Thailand spent years trying to extradite him and was finally able to in what, 2010 ? He was sentenced to life in prison and sent to Bang Kwan.

5 years later his lawyer and a newspaper reporter in Toronto concocted a sob story about the poor guy suffering in a Thai prison for "half a decade" after being "wrongfully convicted" (because, in his opinion, he should have been tried for manslaughter, not murder).
(They deliberately used "half a decade" to try and make it sound longer than "5 years".)

He applied to the Canadian "Public Safety Minister" (a scumbag Liberal that never met a criminal - or terrorist - that he didn't want to set free and put back on the streets) for a Prisoner Transfer.

Which that Minister agreed to - even though he'd been personally informed (by me actually) about the guy's long criminal record and exactly what he'd done to that girl he murdered.

Didn't matter. Not only was the guy brought back to Canada almost immediately (and in secret) - he was released within a couple weeks !! FREE and clear ! NO probation or anything !

I found out when I read that he'd been arrested in Canada less than a year after he'd transferred, for a string of armed robberies he'd done after he'd been released !!

THAT is what "Canada" considers "punishment" for a career criminal that murdered a woman, chopped her body into pieces and threw it into a swamp.

How should a society like THAT be judged ? 

It seems in a lenient society, criminals are more likely to re-offend because they have NO fear of the consequences.
While in a harsh society, most criminals do not want to go to prison again because they DO fear the consequences.

 

[Angus55]

8 minutes ago, off road pat said:

Humane treatment in a developed country vs inhumane treatment in a developing country !!!

Time to bring back the DEATH PENALTY for drug trafficers

[Liverpool Lou]

37 minutes ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

Then my next assumption is you are BS because you claim to have been inside that prison as a prisoner. Why were you not deported ?? You started this remember, by claiming you served time in the Thai jail, so please elaborate so I and others can understand how you were able to do something that as far as we all know, results in deportation once released, and precludes you from getting a Non-O Visa or annual extension. 

"Then my next assumption is you are BS..."

Yet another wrong assumption.  Making assumptions without anything to back them up is what is actual "BS".

 

"...as far as we all know..."

That's where you're going wrong, you're assuming (again!) that your lack of information somehow makes you knowledgeable on the subject.

 

"you claim to have been inside that prison as a prisoner. Why were you not deported ??"

It is not "a claim", it is a fact.  Not everyone is deported on release from Klong Prem. 

"...so please elaborate..."

Who are you?  Why should I provide specifics of my case on the internet to an anonymous stranger that could compromise my anonymity here.  Post a photo of you showing your passport details and I might. 

[PJ71]

13 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

Proceeds of crime, surely the police will confiscate any profits.

amusing

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

1 hour ago, renaissanc said:

5 hours ago, proton said:

The obligatory book full no doubt of self pity and exagerations

If you can't be kind be silent.

"If you can't be kind be silent", ironically, also applies to your comment admonishing him!

 

And yours for admonishing him admonishing him...   and now mine for admonishing you admonishing him admonishing him !!...

 

This could go on... 

[Liverpool Lou]

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

2 hours ago, renaissanc said:

6 hours ago, proton said:

The obligatory book full no doubt of self pity and exagerations

If you can't be kind be silent.

"If you can't be kind be silent", ironically, also applies to your comment admonishing him!

 

And yours for admonishing him admonishing him...   and now mine for admonishing you admonishing him admonishing him !!...

My comment was not an admonishment, it was an observation, that's all, just as yours was not an admonishment of mine.

[off road pat]

6 hours ago, proton said:

The obligatory book full no doubt of self pity and exagerations

Hm,..One doesn't have to exaggerate the horrors of Thai prisons !!! they are widely known !!! and others have written books about it !

I wish her well, she made a stupid mistake in life and payed dearly !!!

[crazykopite]

Do the crime do the time I have zero sympathy for her!

[off road pat]

2 hours ago, soalbundy said:

They should have turned her into a heroin addict and then set her free, karma.

The humanity and compassion just drips of you,....you are soo full of it,...

[off road pat]

30 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

Proceeds of crime, surely the police will confiscate any profits.

She already payed dearly for her crime !!!

[soalbundy]

2 minutes ago, off road pat said:

The humanity and compassion just drips of you,....you are soo full of it,...

Empathy, it's my biggest fault.

[steven100]

36 minutes ago, off road pat said:

I hope she has a happy life from now and that the book sells well !!!

 

I hope she has a terrible life from now on and reflects on all the young lives she ruined through her previous drug use,  and I hope the book doesn't sell and is a big flop.

[bluemoon58]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

 

Holly Deane-Johns, an Australian woman who spent seven gruelling years in a Thai prison for heroin trafficking, has opened up about the appalling conditions she endured in the notorious Lardyao Women’s Correctional Institution, often dubbed the "Bangkok Hilton."

 

In 2000, Holly, then aged 29, was caught trying to mail a parcel of heroin to her family in Perth. She faced the death penalty but was instead sentenced to 31 years in the overcrowded and squalid prison.

 

Speaking on the True Crime Australia podcast with Gary Jubelin, Holly recounted the horror she faced upon arrival. “More than 100 Thai women were sitting on blankets. I asked if anyone spoke English, and one woman raised her hand.

 

 

 

 

She found me a spot to sleep, but there was literally no visible floor space,” she said. The woman instructed others to lie down, revealing a sliver of the floor about nine inches wide. “That was my bed for the next seven years.”

 

Prisoners had to bring their own essentials. “Some couldn’t afford blankets. I bought a couple and folded them to sleep on,” Holly shared.

Picture courtesy of Holly Deane-Johns via Daily Star UK
 

She detailed the primitive conditions, “In my section, there were 2,000 women and only 10 toilets in the yard. Fights over sleeping spots and washing facilities were common. As soon as the cell doors opened, it was a stampede to the trough of cold water. You had to strip naked before the doors opened, or others would pull at your clothes to slow you down.”

 

Her first shower was nearly violent. “A trustee looked like she’d hit me with a metal bar for being slow, but I made it clear I’d fight back. We later became friends, and she let me store my blankets safely.”

 

Holly faced relentless stress and frequent fights. “My first fight was with a friend, and I don’t even know what it was about. It was that crazy.”

 

Even using the toilets was traumatic. “There was no privacy. I didn’t use the toilet for a month because I was so embarrassed. Eventually, I realised I had to adapt. I decided to live like a Thai.”

 

After a long campaign, Holly was transferred to an Australian prison in 2007, where she served another five years before her release in 2012. Since then, she has authored a book titled “Holly’s Hell,” detailing her harrowing experience in the Bangkok Hilton, shedding light on the brutal reality behind its walls.

 

Picture courtesy of Holly Deane-Johns via Daily Star UK

 

-- 2024-05-16

 

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Awwww, diddums! Do the crime, do the time! And you didn't know Thai prisons were nothing like luxurious Oz prisons? 

[MangoKorat]

So many 'holier than thou' types on here.  People end up in prison for many reasons and yes, they risk punishment but that punishment should be humane. If you haven't been there, you're not really in a position to comment.

 

Remember this, just like any country, there will be a small percentage of prisoners in Thai jails that are actually innocent - like the guy in the UK that just spent 17 years in jail for a rape he didn't commit.  Those people, when in Thail jails, also have to endure the disgusting conditions.

 

Thaland has every right to hand out harsh sentences, what they don't have a moral right to do is treat people worse than animals.

 

I note that a certain ex PM didn't spend a single day of his sentence in a jail but if he had, would he have been sent to one of those hell holes?  Not a hope! Good to see him looking so well now his 'sentence' is done.

[ChipButty]

She had already done time in Australia for heroin, then went to Thailand, then she was shipping it back to Australia and the guy she was shipping it to got caught and grassed her up which is what led to her getting caught in Thailand as she left the post office with her latest shipment, 

[dougieboy]

I don’t hold any sympathy for her. She knew how high the risks were and decided to take them. She is very lucky to still be alive lucky on many counts she was lucky that the death sentence was reduced to a prison sentence. 
She was lucky that she was able to serve some of her time in an Australian prison. 
She was lucky she didn’t commit this crime in the Philippines as she almost certainly wouldn’t have survived.

I hope all this good luck wasn’t wasted, Hopefully now you can spend some of your time advising others not to go down the same road you went down  

[ChipButty]

 

[tandor]

5 hours ago, frank83628 said:

plenty of people have written books after drug convictions, it's not as if she went on a mass murder rampage. it is a bit different

..the Heroin she dealt in would have gone on a mass killing rampage if it hadn't been detected...hmmm!