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Pictures of the crowded cells in Samut Prakan Central Prison where up to 65 prisoners are crammed into cells originally built to house only 25 prisoners each. The majority are here for drug related offences. Some were sent to prison for 48 days for failing a random drugs test. Many prisoners are not convicted, either awaiting trial or their appeal. Many are in prison because they couldn't afford the bail or the fine. In Thailand, the number of drug addicts is increasing at a fast rate. Sweeping them under the carpet by sending them to prison is not the answer. They need help and they need it now.
This is the story of one prisoner at Samut Prakan Central Prison near Bangkok in Thailand. His name is Panrit Daoruang (previously Nattawud) and he is known by thousands of people around the world as Gor. This prisoner is no ordinary Thai person. Ever since the age of 12, he has been documenting his life on the internationally acclaimed website thailandlife.com. Over the years he became Thailand's most recognized teenager. Newspapers hailed him as Thailand's youngest ambassador. Others said that he had done more to promote Thailand than the government run Tourism Authority of Thailand. His forum for his ThailandGuidebook.com website has over 12,000 members. Gor didn't only promote Thailand culture and tourist attractions to the world. His most popular website at learningthai.com has hundreds of free lessons for learning the Thai language. Everyone agrees that this is the number one site for Thai language learning. The website receives over 6,000 unique visitors every day. That is a lot of people he is helping to learn Thai for free. Now that he is in prison, he hasn't stopped helping foreigners and promoting Thailand to the world. Due to his fluency in English, both foreign prisoners and prison guards often seek him out for help. In his spare time, he has also been writing his autobiography. The first volume was published in May 2007. All of the proceeds from this book are being put into the Educational Fund for his daughter, Nong Grace. She started Kindergarten in 2007.
"Gor, thank you for befriending me while I was in prison. Although the
conditions we met under were not ideal, I am happy we were given the
opportunity to meet. After I was
torn away from my girlfriend, she was terribly scared for my survival once inside the prison.
Your website helped to calm her worries as she read that the conditions
prisoners are in are far better than she imagined. " Jay, ex-prisoner from America
When he was only 16, Gor became the youngest columnist at the Bangkok Post (GorsWorld.com). Over a period of two years he wrote honestly about the ups and downs of his life. He wrote about his teenage marriage, the birth of his daughter and his most darkest secret. He told them that when he was 15 he became addicted to drugs. This drug is known locally as "yaa baa" or "crazy drug". Unknown to his readers at that time, he was still struggling to quit. The drugs had affected him more than anyone had first thought. Shortly after his 20th birthday, he was arrested by the police for drug possession. His parents put their house up for the bail and a year passed before he had to go to court. In that time he managed to stay clean and concentrated on raising his family and his Internet work. On the 7th September 2006, the criminal court in Samut Prakan sentenced Gor to six years in prison. However, this was then commuted to three years because he was persuaded by the judge at the last minute to plead guilty. At 4.45 p.m. that afternoon, a new chapter opened in the life of Gor.
The menu on the left takes you through the courtcase and then his life in the prison. There is also some background information about how Gor first became addicted to drugs and how it changed his life. Gor has always been honest about his addiction. He has always said that he wanted to send a loud and clear message out to the teenagers of the world. "Don't do drugs. Not even one time. It will change your life forever." Judging by the hundreds of letters that Gor has received over the years, his "drug interviews" have helped many people. Not only drug addicts but also their parents.
Message from the father of a foreign prisoner to Gor:
"Thank you very, very much for helping our son. It means a great deal
to us being so far away. The information [on your website] has really
let us know what is happening as we did not know about how life runs
from day to day. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts."
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These blogs about Thai Prison Life won't be restricted to just Gor and Samut Prakan Central Prison. We will also be adding articles about life in past and present prisons around the country. Including the main ones in Bangkok such as Bang Kwang and Klong Prem.
We are also interested in prisons in the last century and forms of punishment and torture. These days, prisoners are executed by lethal injection, but up until 1934, prisoners used to be beheaded (see picture left). During the mid-20th Century this was changed to execution by gun.Which was then followed by lethal injection in 2003. For more background information about this, please visit our blogs about the Thai Prison Museum. You can buy books about prison life in Thailand at amazon.com and amazon.co.uk.
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| SENDING PARCELS TO PRISONS IN THAILAND: Since July 2008, it is no longer possible to send parcels to most prisons inside Thailand. This includes Samut Prakan Central Prison. |
Message from the editor: These blogs about life in a Thai prison will be updated at regular intervals over the coming months. There have been many books written by foreigners serving in Thai prisons. They talk about sadistic guards, daily beatings and rampant drug use. Some people claim that many of these accounts have been exaggerated in order to sell more books. Although this might be partly true, we still wouldn't want anyone to go through this experience. The blogs on this website are a true and unbiased account of life in a Thai prison. Nothing has been exaggerated. No stories have been made up in order to dramatize the experience. These blogs are also the only account in English from the viewpoint of a Thai prisoner.
Message for foreigners. Please don't even consider taking or dealing in drugs while in Thailand. Penalties are harsh even for minor drugs. You could easily get life or a death sentence. People serving long sentences are sent to the infamous Bang Kwang Prison or Klong Prem Prison which are far harsher than this one. You have been warned! Don't join the thousands of foreigners already in Thai prisons.
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