Webcam At The Bangkok Hilton

[fourbaht]

A prison in the Thai capital, Bangkok, is planning to broadcast inmates' daily lives, as well as their final moments before execution, live on the internet.

Rights group Amnesty International has criticised the plan, which prison officials say will deter criminals.

A spokesman for the Bangkwang prison said the scheme will highlight the risks of drug dealing, which carries the death sentence in Thailand.

Almost 1,000 of Bangkwang's 6,000 inmates are on death row.

Thai authorities have mounted an aggressive campaign against drugs in recent years.

Thousands of people suspected of drugs offences have been killed during the crackdown, sparking criticism from human rights groups.

'Bangkok Hilton'

Amnesty International described the prison webcam plan as an infringement of human rights and called upon the Thai authorities to review it.

No date has yet been set for broadcasts from the Bangkwang prison, nicknamed the "Bangkok Hilton" by Westerners, but cameras are said to have already been installed.

Prison spokesman Nathee Chitsawang told the Associated Press news agency that the internet "will show how we treat convicts in their last minutes, including the preparation process".

But, he said, viewers will only see snippets of the final moments leading up to an execution.

[Neeranam]

Sounds like a good idea to me.

Why not have it on Channel 7?

I have been a few times to Bang Kwang prison, and know some of the inmates there.

I feel that if they show the real situation to as many potential offenders, this can only be a good thing.

"Amnesty International described the prison webcam plan as an infringement of human rights "

And imprisonment and death isn't??

[udon]

I've never seen the "Hilton" but have heard enough about the apalling conditions there to make me stay on the straight and narrow.

Good idea, they might improve the conditions for the short AND long term inmates when the ROTW sees it.

[cdnvic]

They should show it on all inbound Thai Airways flights and see how much E gets flushed.

cv

[Abandon]

I too know a few of the inmates there. I wonder how they feel about their pictures being put up on the web. But lets not just think of the foreigners there who do get an easier time of it than the Thai's. The majority of the cases are Thai, Nepalese and hill tribe people. Not the kind to ever find these images on the web - so other awareness schemes would be more effective I feel. And how closely will the prison cases be documented - the pain of the Death row inmates who are only told 2 hours before their execution that they will die that day? Each day awaking and not knowing if it is the last?

And while we are on the topic. I'd like to point out that Foreign inmates do say that while conditions, food, crowding, medicine, and boredom are majour problems, most of the American prisoners refuse to be transported back to the States as is their right after 8 years, because prisons there are far worse. Also all the Western nations, when a prisoner is transferred back to their home nation, will resentence them- which usually means release within the year. Except for Britain which insists on the inmates serving at least half their sentence which is often 99 years or 50 years. This British treaty needs to be changed quickly.

For most of the foreigners in Bang Kwang it is stupidity and greed that got them there, and they do not have track records of crime. Anywhere else this would be taken into account in sentencing. Once they start their 99 year term, the only recourse is a pardon from His Majety the King. These appeals are difficult to write, and hence most of the women, especially the Hill Tribe women, will never apply. Also, the pardons (reductions in sentence) are given without explanation, giving no recourse to law, justice or logic in their distribution.

[johnrh]

Seems this plan has been scapped now. See this link to the BBC......

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4189995.stm