FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Vice Blog

NEW YORK - BANGKWANG TIMES


Speaking of going back to the times when your brain was breaking into its first sweat over how terrible and fucked up the world was and how you knew your life would never be the same because of knowing what you now knew, our friend Matt Malooly just reminded us of BangKwang Times ("The Only Zine Which Has To Be Smuggled OUT To Subscribers"). Handwritten in a Thai prison by some British dude who got busted for smuggling drugs in Thailand, then mailed to a friend in England who would bind and post it, in order to get it you'd have to send cash to the guy's friend in England.

Advertisement

After the first mailing, he put in a note saying he'd also accept things like Aspirin or Tylenol in trade, as medicine was impossible to get in that jail. It was a look at what all has to happen before some ex-suburban hipster decides to try smack for the first time. I mean, the guy's writing was shitty, and he had somewhat understandably come to hate Thai people, but it was just remarkable he was still fucking alive and working on something. I wonder if he ever made it out of there. I lost my copies long ago and don't know the UK contact address of his friend this page I just found online lists the last issue as being from Dec 1998.

You can find photos the guy took here. Here's an intro to the zine:

"My name is Brian Mounsey. I'm 2 1/2 [years] into a Thai life sentence (forever!). IN BangKwang Central Prison #2 Nonthaburi, 11000 Thailand, AKA the Bangkok Hilton. The first 2 1/2 years I've spent in the worst building in the prison overcrowded strict regime etc. 23 of us shoulder to shoulder, toe to toe, sleeping on a concrete floor in a cell the size of a modest living room in a council house. Not very healthy. If one gets a cold or scabies (both permanent conditions) all or most get it, unavoidable when you're so full and packed in. Now the overcrowding problem has been solved as I've spent the last 6 months in shackles (unremovable chains) in the solitary block. In a cell the length of my body and arms width. I have a VIP hole as a toilet and a tank for shower and toilet full of river water via the prison reservoir that don't seem to work, as soil and other unidentifiable objects come thru the pipe. The water is the same colour as the Thames. The food each day is a bag of rice and a bag of soup with a bit of cabbage or bamboo and a few bits of pig fat or if yer lucky a chicken neck section.

Advertisement

The only help we get to supplement this is the £25 a month from our saviours Prisoners Abroad, who are keeping us alive as the British Government won't do anything to help us stay alive (Apart from one Snickers bar Xmas '93). Without other outside help you will die. I was lucky with my Thai wife, but a recent 'Dear John' letter has left me with Prisoners Abroad. What we would do without them is either starve or get sick."

Some text from Issue #3:

"Lard Yao: (prison Next To Bombat)"

Lard Yao is a facility in Bangkok for prisoners serving 'short term' sentences. Meaning less than 33 years!

It's part of Klom Prem Central Prison, of which 'Bombat' is also a part (see # 2) and Bangkok Special Prison, which is reserved for non-drug cases. Lard Yao is yet another slave camp–one of the biggest in south-east Asia–with well over 15000 prisoners. I believe it was originally built by the Japs in WW2. The guards in each building are bigger than most to be found in any of the other Bangkok prisons. Some people are transferred here whilst their cases are still ongoing. Lard Yao is slightly better than Bombat for two reasons. Firstly, there's more space, and secondly a few less seal like clubbings, since these are conducted inside buildings for secrecy–too many people are regularly from Lard Yao on small sentences.

One guard in particular is a monster–he used to shoot ball-bearings from a slingshot at defenceless prisoners huddled in the corner of locked cells (12'x14'). The same creature beat a Malaysian prisoner to death a few years back, and was merely demoted to 'factory boss' in a different building–the poor guy! He's a murderer with a real 'Carte Blanche' to kill.

On the minus side of Lard Yao are the 'Samurai's'. These are Thai's whose life is so fucked up (literally no skills, so money, no family, no friends, no brains etc.) they will do literally anything for chump change. This includes stabbing, thievery, and every other evil act you can think of. They're easily recognisable by their scars–they heavily mutilate themselves with knife slashes across the chest, arms, face etc. then they rub ash into the wounds to leave a livid red scar.

One Last Note: Congratulations to Daniel Westlake (not his real name). The first foreigner to successfully escape from a Thai prison (back in August '96) Way to go Daniel!

MATT MALOOLY