After a few weeks back in Nepal I flew to Bangkok to meet my best friend Corrine for 3 weeks of travelling through Cambodia. What a learning experience that was; I'm embarrassed to say that before that trip I knew almost nothing about the Khmer and the genocide that happened in Cambodia not so long ago. That topic is perhaps for another post..
After Corrine left I stuck around in Cambodia for another week. While in Phnom Phen I asked around about visiting a prison but was told by locals that only family could visit. So I didn't take it any further. Strike 2, although it wasn't anything as disappointing as Strike 1.
Then I went to Vietnam and was told the same thing there. I wasn't surprised to hear this in Vietnam though given that it's a communist country. I didn't think they would be the most open about foreigners snooping about. Strike 3.
Well, there would be no giving up.
After a 3 week tour and a final week on my own in Vietnam, I returned to Bangkok, Thailand with the main purpose of visiting a prisoner there. I had already read about the infamous Bangkwang Prison, of which many books had been written, mainly because of horrible prison conditions and horrific treatment of prisoners. Bangkwang was so famous that it had actually been listed in the Lonely Planet guidebook as something to do while in Bangkok. Quite strange. I wasn't so focused on Bangkwang but wanted to visit at least one prison while there given that was the reason I had come back.
Knowing that visiting prisons was a more common thing to do in Bangkok and having the Lonely Planet tip of contacting an embassy to arrange it, I emailed the Canadian Embassy while I was in Vietnam to see if there were any incarcerated Canadians that I could visit. Within no time I received an email suggesting that I visit Adrian, a Dutch-Canadian prisoner at Bangkwang, and including the information that I needed to see him.
I can remember the pressure of having a small window of opportunity to visit that day, as well as the feat that it was to get there and manouver the entry process. The main mode of transportation in Bangkok is by ferry which takes you up and down the river running through the city. So I first took the ferry, then once at my stop wandered around bewildered until I gave up and hired a rickshaw to take me to the prison. Well of course it turned out to literally be around the corner from the ferry stop. So got ripped off on that transaction but whatever..I was there!
I stood across the street taking the picture that you are seeing now, enthralled as I always am with prisons, and amazed that I was there. I had made it before visiting hours so sat down in an outdoor waiting area with a small group of people who seemed to be having some sort of prayer session while they waited. Didn't join in on that party...
Nothing was written in English so I sat and hoped that I was in the right place. The wicket eventually opened after which I was sent to another area where I had to fill out a piece of paper and wait for the visit to be approved. That seemed to be quite a process so I was a bit anxious that I was going to be turned away. But eventually I got my approval and went on my way.
I don't remember much about the security process after that to be honest except that it was really confusing and that I felt like an idiot not understanding a thing. I swear nobody spoke English in that prison. After a series of checkpoints and bars, I ended up in a visiting area, which was very modern and consisted of a U shaped building with many many stations where visitors sat with a phone, separated by glass with the inmates on the other side. There was no privacy between the stations so everyone could see eachother. I waited forever for Adrian to arrive and was uncertain whether he was even coming as there were no guards around to explain anything. Thankfully an English speaking foreign missionary told me where to sit, that Adrian was coming and so on. So I waited.
Adrian finally appeared and presented as a tall, thin white guy probably in his late 40s with greyish hair and glasses. Totally the guy next door. What has stuck with me about this visit was how Adrian presented. From the moment he appeared he was just such a happy, good natured guy, smiling, joking and talking constantly. By this time he had been in prison for about 8 years. He had had some foreign visitors before; the Lonely Planet disciples, which he didn't complain about, because who wouldn't be happy to escape the boredom and loneliness of being in a foreign prison. But he was intuitive enough to know that they were there for the prison experience rather than out of concern for him. He was like an animal on display in a zoo.
So I explained to him why I was there, that I had visited inmates before and why. And then we just talked...
Adrian's story goes that he was living in Bangkok with his Thai girlfriend in the home of a friend (another foreigner). He openly admitted that he and his friend were both into selling drugs and that one day there was a raid and a whole lot of Ecstasy was found. He and his girlfriend were charged whereas the friend went free. Adrian explained the story with some amusement; in that although he was in fact selling drugs, that that day they weren't actually his. Let's just say his "friend" didn't own up to the drugs being his and Adrian and his girlfriend were eventually convicted. I can't remember the exact sentence but it was something like 10-12 years.
Because of the business he was in and the resulting risk that he was taking, he seemed somewhat accepting of his fate. However, what was clear was that he felt deeply remorseful about his girlfriend being convicted as well. He knew that she didn't have the same rights or opportunity for release as he did being a foreigner, and vowed that once he was out he was going to try and get her out too.
Speaking of getting out, he was working on it with both the Canadian and Dutch embassies given that he had dual citizenship. He told me that it was going to be faster to get sent back to Holland so he was going to go with that plan, but that he preferred to live in Canada and once he was back in Holland would work on that. We also talked about the fact that drug laws were so liberal in Holland that he probably wouldn't have even been locked up had he been caught there. There certainly would be no repercussions for him once he was released and sent back there.
Adrian raved about how amazing of a support the Canadian Embassy had been to him, visiting regularly, bringing him food, clothes, and being an emotional support. He actually credited the Embassy with saving his life. The reason being was that he had cancer and with the poor medical treatment in prison he had gone for a long time without being diagnosed. It was the Embassy that pressured the prison to have him checked which led to the cancer diagnosis and treatment. From what I recall he wasn't out of the woods yet in terms of his cancer, but was incredibly positive about his situation.
We talked about Bangkwang; by this time he had been there about 8 years. He confirmed some things that I had heard, such as prisoners having to wear leg chains for the first year, major corruption and beatings by guards. He told me that the Southeast Asians (those from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos) were treated the worst by the guards, sadly, because they have no power. Adrian told me that he himself had not been mistreated and I remember him almost being flippant about it. What I mean by that is that he scoffed at the possibility, stating that they knew that if they touched him the Embassy would be on them so fast, that they would never get away with it. Just another example of the privileges that come along with being Canadian.
It was a really great visit; we laughed, joked, he was easy to talk to, and just a jovial, positive guy. I can still picture his smile and how lit up he was when he talked. He was very thankful that I had come, and I left with an email address to the prison to drop him a line. After saying goodbye I made my way to the prison store to pick out some food supplies for him. The system there was really high tech; you basically picked out the items, paid for them after which they delivered them to Adrian, just like a flower delivery here! I did wonder if it was a sham and whether the stuff would actually get to him, although I had no choice but to go along with it. And so after doing that, and I remember spending a long time in there carefully picking out my items, making sure that I was getting him things that would last, I made my way back through the maze out of the prison. I remember feeling so elated after leaving. It was the accomplishment of actually getting there and visiting with Adrian, and then for it to have been such an enjoyable and enlightening visit.
I did write to Adrian after my visit, but never heard back. Honestly, I don't know whether my letter even got to him, which I feel bad about as I wanted him to know that it wasn't just a random, "animal in a cage" type of visit for me. I wanted him to know that I did think of him, and wonder how his health was. Also whether he ended up returning to Holland, or reuniting with his girlfriend. But I guess I'll never know...
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