Duncan wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 7:52 am

jmagic wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:39 am A family member of mine was in Prison for smuggling wood. One day I visited him with my wife and family. The prison was out in the countryside and actually looked pretty nice. The prisoners had a farm/garden that they worked on and a few shops on the outside where visitors could buy snacks and cigarettes for the inmates. The atmosphere lacked the violence and paranoia that characterizes American prisons.

Can you name the prison, cause I'd like to give it a 5 star rating so a few homeless barang can get into this wood smuggling game there and end up with good accommodation.

It was in Kompong Thom.

Khmer prisons can be 5* hotels if you can afford it. (rumors say you can even snitch out at night and come back during sunrise under "certain conditions" )

David Stearn wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 12:21 pm

up2u wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 8:43 am Dear David,
...

Funny how lawlessness implies falling in line when the pigs come-a-snoinkin. And to get busted by Cambodian Cops, you've really gotta be fuckin stoopid. Or greedy.
Or Stoopid.

Yo jmagic:
..
Let's be PC and say: "LATIN" American prisons.

(1-2-3- helo-helo-dis ting on?-helo-1-2-3-)

Not sure, it seems an innocent person could get banged up pretty easily with mixed up information, extortion, being framed, or any number of FU scenario's which has been claimed a lot. That part scares me because it's really hard to be low profile when you stand out in the crowd as a white.

If you are successful and edging up on others, what about the motive of your competitors taking you out, is it possible?

It scares me too, just how easily something could be misinterpreted, get out of hand or just a wild accusation from someone who's taken a dislike to you could put you behind bars out here.

Even when I was looking for a job as a teacher, I deliberately took a job in a school for adults rather than mix with kids and risk opening myself up to untoward suggestion or accusation, although that's probably going a bit over the top.

Seems wise enough with all the witch hunting, being a single male, one must be very careful. The kid thing would just drive me nuts anyways but still, I would not be able to be a normal natural person around them so I too stay far away from that scene.

I did 30 days in the small immigration jail near what later became GSM/Nana Hotel several years ago. Shared the one cell they had there with two Tamil Tiger refugees who had been working at an embassy in the city. I had a pocketful of cash with me so it wasn't too bad (a third Sri Lankan, a friend/coworker of the two Tamil Tigers, stopped by every day and brought us what we needed). Slept on the floor the first night, and the next day we pushed the two large wooden office desks which were in the cell together and slept on them. Rats couldn't disturb our sleep that way....

There was an immigration prison on 154 opposite the National Police HQ/ PJ prisonwhich was later developed into GSM etc. I never went there but I heard it had a barred side which was pretty much open for anyone to wander up to and stare or pass food through etc.

The flower garden is just a facade. According to inmates, the inside is less than desirable.


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The suggestion that Cambodian prisons can be likened to a guesthouse/resort is like saying that you need a wooly coat in Hades.

Google it and see for yourself. The United Nations have condemned Cambodian prison conditions by virtue they do not comply with any of their minimum prison standards. Prison conditions are regarded by Amnesty International as inhumane.

I had a guided tour of the new prison at Sihanoukvile which opened early 2017 and is regarded as the best prison in the country. I also have a friend serving a sentence there. I have also (3 years ago) toured the prison at Kandal, just outside Phnom Penh. So I share my knowledge with you as a very informed opinion.

I will reference mainly the Sihanoukville prison, as it is regarded as the best. This will give you a good of how the others bare up.

Sihanoukville Prison opened in early 2017, with intention of holding 900 inmates. The prison numbers as at February 2018 hit 2,100 inmates.
Up to 115 Prisoners are crammed into each cells, sleeping on concrete floors in "sardine can" sleeping arrangements. In the cells are no natural lighting nor is their any ventilation. Prisoners are to remain absolutely silent at all times while in their cells. They are permitted out of the cell (on cell rotation ) for 30 minutes a day into an exercise yard that is approximately the area of the floor space of a modest 3 bedroom western home. There is no running water in the cell, with a shared tap outside only. There are no showers, but prisoners can wash with a bucket of water and wash cloth.

Within the prison, prisoners see only walls. There is no view outside, no trees, no lawn, no garden.
Only one meal a day is provided, being a bowl of rice/vegetable soup. (no meat !). Without money or delivered food, a prison diet alone is almost a starvation diet.
Health Care / Medicine is only provided when a prisoner becomes gravely ill , meaning, near death. If a prisoner needs a doctor otherwise, they must pay for it themselves. A prison escort to a clinic in town is at a cost of approximately $60 USD. An additional bribe must be paid to the prison guards for them to allow the inmate to receive any medication.
To visit an inmate, you must pay a $2USD bribe to a guard to fill in the prison visit slip, pay another $2 to another guard to check it and may ask for a further $2 to hold your phone while you visit.

The visitor section is tiny (approximately 4 metres x 10 metres), with concrete benches on each side of the chicken wire. There can be up to 45 people visiting inmates at a time, so it is very hot and steamy within the room, and extremely noisy with the multiple raised voices. Visitors can deliver food and other necessities to inmates which are screened by prisoner trustees, overseen by guards. Visitors may hand over letters to prisoners for a fee to the trustee, but no letter is allowed out of the prison unless it is in Khmer language so it can be read first. This means a foreigner can not given letters out of the prison for family outside. A maximum of 20 minutes visit is allowed.

A face to face visit can be arranged for a $10 bribe, conducted in the prison boss office, however, there will up to 6 inmates enjoying visits that way in a small room, sitting on the floor of the prison boss. This is the only way physical contact between inmates and visitors can be made. These visits are a maximum of 30 minutes.

Within the prison are the well known "head prisoners" as there are all around the world. These head prisoners will confiscate for themselves between 30% and 50% of food and money visitors have given to an inmate. This is from what is left over after guards have already taken some for themselves. Prisoners can borrow from the head prisoner, with an interest rate of 30% per week. The head prisoners have cell phones and can be used by other inmates to make phone calls at a rate of $2 USD per minute.

It is believed that Sihanoukville prison is the only one in Cambodia where there are no drugs smuggled in.

At night, the prison is on lock down with the only guards present being in the corner towers armed with AK-47's.

The death rate in Cambodia prisons is one of the highest in the world, with the World Health Organisation citing that greater than half of prison deaths is through what otherwise are treatable diseases, being mainly Tuberculosis, malaria and hepatitis. T.B. is common in the prisons given the poor diets they have and the woeful housing/sleeping conditions which allows easy contraction of the disease. Dysentery is also common where in some prisons, infections of over 60% have been recorded in outbreaks. Lice and fleas are common.

A prison escapee can be legally shot. If captured, a further 10 years prison is automatically added to their sentence.

google Cambodia Prisons in the news and read of the scandals. In one instance in 2017, a prison guard was extorting sexual favours from inmates in return for smuggling drugs into the prison. In another, a prisoner was taken out of a cell for 'punishment' where he was later placed in isolation. He died and when his body was handed to family, they saw multiple bruises over his dead body. An autopsy showed he was bashed to death, but a Government inquiry and second autopsy said the bruises and injuries were done to the dead body after it was released, "probably by his own family". You do not need to be a doctor to know that dead people can't be bruised.

5 Star resort ? I think not.

David Stearn wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 12:21 pm

up2u wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 8:43 am Dear David,
...

Funny how lawlessness implies falling in line when the pigs come-a-snoinkin. And to get busted by Cambodian Cops, you've really gotta be fuckin stoopid. Or greedy.
Or Stoopid.

Yo jmagic:
..
Let's be PC and say: "LATIN" American prisons.

(1-2-3- helo-helo-dis ting on?-helo-1-2-3-)

Not sure, it seems an innocent person could get banged up pretty easily with mixed up information, extortion, being framed, or any number of FU scenario's which has been claimed a lot. That part scares me because it's really hard to be low profile when you stand out in the crowd as a white.

If you are successful and edging up on others, what about the motive of your competitors taking you out, is it possible?

Very easy for innocents to get locked up in Cambodia. It is the truth that in Cambodia, a person can be held in prison for up to 4 months without being charged. It is also the case that by paying the 'right' policeman a payment of around $400 USD, he will arrange for that person you don't like to get locked up with nothing done wrong,..... , or will plant drugs on them and ask them for a further payment to drop the charge.

Common in Sihanoukville in recent years was where the girl working with police would sell a bag of weed to a foreign tourist on the beach. Police would immediately approach and for $50-100 bribe they would walk away. When the foreigner did not pay, they were arrested and at the police station the bribe went up to $100-500. Refusal to pay would end up with a bag of ice and an ice pipe thrown on the table and mug shot photo taken and then accused of being a dealer. Bribe was now $1000-2000 to get out. Continued refusal could be anywhere from 4 months in prison without charge with the bribe fee increased, or charged and get a prison sentence of between 2 and 5 years.

"The damage done" is a great book by a past Thai farang prisoner that spent 12 years in Big tiger before if was forced to close. Survived on roaches and mice. That was the nice part of it.
If you are interested in these types of stories it's worth a read. The author is no Hemingway though...