Even behind bars, dignity shouldn't be denied: Thailand

[webfact]

BURNING ISSUE
Even behind bars, dignity shouldn't be denied
Chularat Saengpassa

BANGKOK: -- Is a prisoner's dark brown clothing a sign of his degraded human dignity?

It is to some activists. But the truth is uniforms are by far the least of a prisoner's problems.

Few people know that when in prison, convicts can wear anything - T-shirts and jeans or pyjamas. Only when they are to go outside, like appearing in court, are they required to wear the inmate uniform.

The official wear now is a short-sleeved shirt and shorts for men. Women have to wear a long sarong. They are of the same colour, with light and dark shades of brown.

A prisoner told me he was okay with the uniform. While in jail, what troubled him most were the living conditions.

For example there is limited space for prisoners to hang wet clothes, which remain damp and smell bad. When it is time for meals, it is especially hard to find a piece of meat; when it comes to sleep, the place is crowded - in some prisons, inmates lie down shoulder to shoulder.

Added to these living conditions, they also feel stressed by social judgements. Some insist they are innocent. Some, charged under lese majeste law, are distressed. Some, in old age, suffer because of the absence of proper healthcare.

In a way, large numbers feel they have been put in a cell for the wrong reasons. Many lawyers and activists agree they have been.

"There is a connection between poverty and jail. It's a correct perception that only the poor go to jail," said an activist at a seminar last weekend.

Some may ask - why should we take care of these people?

Well, the reason is these people belong to our society. People can commit crimes, but they deserve another chance. Second, guilty people should be punished, but not to the extent they have to give up all human dignity.

It is difficult though for the system to obtain better services and conditions.

Today, national prisons hold more than 200,000 people, despite their limited capacity, which explains a lot about the tight space and poor food.

A nursing home is budgeted at about Bt120 for food for the elderly; but the allowance for each prisoner is a lot less.

Those who cannot get bail, or cannot afford bail payments, languish in prison, waiting for their trials to end.

Thailand has a large number of scientists. They should be clever enough to design a technology that facilitates the monitoring of these people, if they are not to be put in jail.

The problem is that once men, usually the poor, get charged, society considers them wrongdoers who deserve punishment. Few - aside from their family members - would wonder or care how much punishment was enough.

The activist, who has been in many prisons, said there are a large number of prisoners who have no visitors throughout their serving time - and who have not a single dime to spend on items like soap or shampoo. She suggested donations as a way to make merit, to living people.

My own experience is that at some prisons there are also a large number of old people. The guards told me most of them had done nothing wrong, but they had volunteered to go to jail to save their children, mostly dealers in drugs.

Prisons are like another world to the people outside, but inside there are living people.

If Thailand must have places to contain wrongdoers, they should be entitled to better treatment, at least with cleaner clothes and better food. Indeed, having their freedom ripped off them is bad enough.


-- The Nation 2014-05-20

[ChrisY1]

They shouldn't have committed crimes......no prison anywhere is meant to be like the Hilton!

[keestha]

Quoting the opening post: The activist, who has been in many prisons, said there are a large number of prisoners who have no visitors throughout their serving time - and who have not a single dime to spend on items like soap or shampoo. She suggested donations as a way to make merit, to living people.

Yes an excellent way of making merit. Much better than donating goods to a temple, which after that will gather dust on a shelf there.

[PDavies]

It's naive to suggest that everybody in prison is culpable of their crimes or even guilty of them to any extent.

Going a step further it's unacceptable to condone denying a human being their freedom by incarcerating them in a cell, irrespective of their wrong-doings. It'll take a while before the majority can comprehend this, maybe 50 years, maybe 250.

[JohnThailandJohn]

Prisoners across the globe experience abuse and dehumanization but they are usually the furthest from anyone's concern even if they live right next to a prison.

[Daffy D]

My own experience is that at some prisons there are also a large number of old people. The guards told me most of them had done nothing wrong, but they had volunteered to go to jail to save their children, mostly dealers in drugs.

Hope the kids appreciate it

[Tokay]

They shouldn't have committed crimes......no prison anywhere is meant to be like the Hilton!

And what about those who were wrongly found guilty or set up?

[belg]

in many european countries, jail is like a hotel, they live better than many pensionners, for sure..

in the US : you get raped

in thailand : the true meaning of jail ... you are in there for a reason, as a punishment

does it work in either country ?

[samjaidee]

in many european countries, jail is like a hotel, they live better than many pensionners, for sure..

in the US : you get raped

in thailand : the true meaning of jail ... you are in there for a reason, as a punishment

does it work in either country ?

Being deprived of your liberty is supposed to be the punishment. The punishment should not extend to living in conditions that take away your right to live as a human being.

[pkspeaker]

Too many prisoners are there for 'war on drugs' reason, for example a first time offender for possession of yaba, even personal use amount-is given at least 1 year in prison, often more (if my understanding is correct)

It should be that a first time offender of yaba possession is forced into rehab-at his expense, before they force him into long stays at one of these prisons which will destroy his personality and may make him give-up on life..if they simply did that I think the prison overcrowding issue could be alleviated quite a bit

[h90]

They shouldn't have committed crimes......no prison anywhere is meant to be like the Hilton!

But what is a crime and what not should be reviewed.......

[noodle]

A civilised society would not permit victimless crime laws that allow the state to incarcerate whomever it chooses.

[ClutchClark]

A civilised society would not permit victimless crime laws that allow the state to incarcerate whomever it chooses.

My dear man, a "civilized" society does not have such a thing as crime.

[ClutchClark]

in many european countries, jail is like a hotel, they live better than many pensionners, for sure..

in the US : you get raped

in thailand : the true meaning of jail ... you are in there for a reason, as a punishment

does it work in either country ?

In the US, white collar criminals go to minimum security prisons and these are akin to country clubs and there is no need to keep your soap on a rope there. Its where the politicians and Wall Street do their time after stealing millions of senior citizens' life savings. ;-) Edited May 20, 2014 by ClutchClark

[ClutchClark]

My own experience is that at some prisons there are also a large number of old people. The guards told me most of them had done nothing wrong, but they had volunteered to go to jail to save their children, mostly dealers in drugs.

Hope the kids appreciate it

What? Where? In Thailand? Can someone please confirm this? I would say it is too fantastical to even be possible but the sacrifice that Thai women make for their sons is so extreme that I wouldn't be surprised they would volunteer to do the little twits prison time as well.

[MMarlow]

They shouldn't have committed crimes......no prison anywhere is meant to be like the Hilton!

The author of that report isn't saying that it should be, just that a little dignity is afforded to those in there. Many prisoners have not yet been found guilty of any offence or even appeared in court.

[somjitr]

It's naive to suggest that everybody in prison is culpable of their crimes or even guilty of them to any extent.

Going a step further it's unacceptable to condone denying a human being their freedom by incarcerating them in a cell, irrespective of their wrong-doings. It'll take a while before the majority can comprehend this, maybe 50 years, maybe 250.

Hmm let's talk about abolishing capital punishment first. Baby steps.

It would be ideal to have a society where no one is locked up. However, in a real functional society, you need enough deterrents for crimes. How would you achieve that without incarceration? I don't think that treating everything as a civil wrong that only requires restitution to the victims would work well.

[Yann55]

Compared with the remarkably measured, poised, and intelligent tone of this article, some of the violent comments here are truly appalling.

It's obvious that criminals are put behind bars not to be 'reformed' but primarily to protect society. The cruel irony is that it doesn't work, because the system actually allows hardened criminals to be released and do it again, it happens all the time.

It's also obvious that prisons do not ever reform anyone. If anything they are only likely to turn petty criminals into dangerous ones, because to survive the horror of most prisons (vividly described in many books), you have to become a totally different person. One of the greatest flaws in the carceral system is that it mixes all offenders (plus a few who were wrongly convicted) regardless of how serious their crime was.

So... if prisons do not reform criminals and do not protect society either, what real purpose do they serve ? I guess they're a deterrent for some people who haven't crossed the line, but mostly they have a 'feelgood' effect on law-abiding citizens, who are made to feel that the 'bad guys get what they deserve'.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Yann55

[silent]

They shouldn't have committed crimes......no prison anywhere is meant to be like the Hilton!

Thank-you. I thought I was pretty anal as a uniformed cop years ago when on occasion getting caught up in the us against them mob mentality. It's good to know that I'm not completely alone with the hole attitude about which side of the bars and law we might find the bigger criminals on.

Keep the faith and keep them all chained and shackled on road gangs to learn that nothing in the world comes without a cost.

Edited May 20, 2014 by silent

[Jimbolai]

I would say read the book "Damage done by Warren Fellows". It's about his time in a Bangkok prison. On page [ix] he challenges the reader that if they believe he deserved the horrors he saw and if you don't pity him he calls you a criminal, vengeful and sadistic and you just haven't been caught yet.

I did read the entire so-called book and he speaks of a girl he cheats out of her freedom in India and sells her into slavery with some other scumbag. For that alone I feel he should have never got his freedom back. He did not pay a price high enough to pay for his crimes. He did only 9 years while she is still in slavery. That scumbag never learned the basics of the golden rule.

Now, we all know that there are some innocents in prison and I am all for some form of charity. But for Warren Fellows no punishment is enough.

ps: I hope that his home country prevents him from making money on that crummy book.

[antimedia]

Worked as a screw and screw driver for many years and never met and inmate who says he or she was guilty, all pleaded circumstances.

[Gandtee]

They shouldn't have committed crimes......no prison anywhere is meant to be like the Hilton!

If they were guilty you are right. But we all know that scapegoats are used very often here, and is it right that that they should be subjected to humiliation? In the article it was said that some old folk go to prison the protect their family? If this is known, why are they in prison? Prisons in this so called modern age are there for the rehabilitation of the wrong doer. If the prisoners are living under the conditions stated, what standard of rehabilitation are they receiving? The best way to rob? How to sleep with a person of the opposite sex without a problem,? The best way to deal in drugs? I would think that any minor criminal would leave prison with more ammunition in his/her head to continue breaking the law.

[Jean Pierre Jacquot]

The vast majority of people in jail are because they really committed an offence against the law, they are not innocent. However the issue is what they should receive as punishment. Not to have liberty is already a huge punishment and really no need to let them endure the conditions which are presently to be found in Thai prisons. Another issue is the length of the punishments given which are sometimes incredible, like serving longer for selling a few ya ba pills than for committing murder.

[Jimbolai]

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Too many prisoners are there for 'war on drugs' reason, for example a first time offender for possession of yaba, even personal use amount-is given at least 1 year in prison, often more (if my understanding is correct)

It should be that a first time offender of yaba possession is forced into rehab-at his expense, before they force him into long stays at one of these prisons which will destroy his personality and may make him give-up on life..if they simply did that I think the prison overcrowding issue could be alleviated quite a bit

I would be for legalizing all drugs most importantly all medicine. Why should one have to pay a legal drug dealer (doctor) selling medicine and making a fortune of it. Most people are fully capable to use the internet and determine what they need. Most know that arsenic and rat poison is not good for you so why do we need to see a legal drug pusher to get some meds for high blood pressure? I, like the vast majority, would not use heroin, legal or not etc. etc. Just my 2 baht worth.

[Nephilum]

Despicable treatment, attitudes and beliefs on every level from those who think this is acceptable! Unbelievable and ignorant to say the least!

[ggt]

They should have an option on wearing apparel...dodo brown...or rainbow colors....

[uptheos]

It's naive to suggest that everybody in prison is culpable of their crimes or even guilty of them to any extent.

Going a step further it's unacceptable to condone denying a human being their freedom by incarcerating them in a cell, irrespective of their wrong-doings. It'll take a while before the majority can comprehend this, maybe 50 years, maybe 250.

Comprehending this in 250 years suits me.

[ATF]

Compared with the remarkably measured, poised, and intelligent tone of this article, some of the violent comments here are truly appalling.

It's obvious that criminals are put behind bars not to be 'reformed' but primarily to protect society. The cruel irony is that it doesn't work, because the system actually allows hardened criminals to be released and do it again, it happens all the time.

It's also obvious that prisons do not ever reform anyone. If anything they are only likely to turn petty criminals into dangerous ones, because to survive the horror of most prisons (vividly described in many books), you have to become a totally different person. One of the greatest flaws in the carceral system is that it mixes all offenders (plus a few who were wrongly convicted) regardless of how serious their crime was.

So... if prisons do not reform criminals and do not protect society either, what real purpose do they serve ? I guess they're a deterrent for some people who haven't crossed the line, but mostly they have a 'feelgood' effect on law-abiding citizens, who are made to feel that the 'bad guys get what they deserve'.

Agree with you 100%. They should be taken out of the gene pool completely. Crime tends often to be a family business. Sterilization for minor crimes and capital punishment for more serious ones. Then the jails could be sold and the money given to the needy.

You've got my vote.

[axact]

They shouldn't have committed crimes......no prison anywhere is meant to be like the Hilton!

Typical blinkered view. No prison anywhere is like the Hilton. Prison is a loss of freedom, that is one hell of a bit punishment in its own right. No doubt there are innocent people in prison, mentally impaired etc, political prisoners etc I suppose they should suffer too ?

Hopefully your attitude will result in karma giving you a taste of prison, it would be interesting to hear your views once you are incarcerated.

Humans should treat other humans with dignity regardless of whether they are classed as criminals.

[PDavies]

It would be ideal to have a society where no one is locked up. However, in a real functional society, you need enough deterrents for crimes. How would you achieve that without incarceration? I don't think that treating everything as a civil wrong that only requires restitution to the victims would work well.

I don't really have the answers. I just know the current system is inhumane and draconian.

You could live in anarchy, devoid of society. Anarchy because it has no structure, would probably fail.

Or as you mentioned, civil as oppose to criminal charges. Not dissimilar to parts of the Thai justice system, if you have money. In my view the most appropriate form of punishment. If not enough funds to cover costs and victim compensation (or in addition to payments), restorative justice is considered, similar to community-service type sentences.