Gor’s World

Prison Factory Inmates in Thai prisons are confined in their overcrowded cells for at least 14 hours a day. Each room was built to house only 25 prisoners sleeping on the floor with no furniture and only one open toilet in the corner. These days, due to an increase in drug addiction, cells now...

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The old Paknam Prison in 1937. Due to overcrowding, a more modern and bigger prison was built outside the city in 1997. In that year there were 125,000 people in Thai prisons. By the time the new prison had been completed in 2001, Thailand had  244,000 prisoners. An overwhelming 66.46% of the prisoners were there...

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Over the years, there have been many books about life in a Thai prison written by foreigners. They talk about sadistic guards and having to eat cockroaches in order to survive. The reality is far different. These prison blogs are the only account of life on the inside as written by a Thai person...

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A scene from the movie “Brokedown Palace” which is banned in Thailand My first impressions of Thailand even before I came here weren’t that good. While I was traveling in Australia I saw the movie “Bangkok Hilton” starring Nicole Kidman. I don’t remember much of the movie, but what stands out is Kidman going...

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Watch Tower at Klong Dan Prison, Samut Prakan  Last month I was telling you about the court case of one of my former students. He had been arrested last year for possession of drugs. The police found amphetamines pills on him. These are known locally as “yaa baa” or “crazy medicine”. The pills are...

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Samut Prakan Central Prison, Klong Dan The old prison in Samut Prakan is just down the road from me. All that remains are portions of the wall and the guard towers. They were supposed to turn the place into a public park. But that was about three or four years ago and nothing has happened....

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  Criminal Court in Samut Prakan, alongside the Chao Phraya River I had last seen my former student at the Criminal Court in Samut Prakan. He was no longer “defendant number two” as he had already been tried and convicted. The judge had sentenced him to three years and a fine of 200,000 baht (about...

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This is now the final part of the series of blogs I have written about my two days in a Criminal Court in Thailand. The time between the court case and the reading of the verdict was an agonizing nine days. Defendant number two obviously didn’t get much sleep in the days leading up...

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The Scales of Justice inside the Court Room  I was telling you before about the day I spent in a criminal court in Thailand.  It was a long day and the bench I was sitting on was extremely uncomfortable. But, at least I knew for sure that I could go home at the end...

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   The Courtroom at the Samut Prakan Criminal Court The first witness was called to testify and he was sworn in. The prosecutor then proceeded to ask him pertinent questions regarding the day the alleged crime took place. The first witness was the arresting officer. In the movies, what would happen next is that...

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