Photo Tour of Samut Prakan Prison

This is the front of Samut Prakan Central Prison as you arrive. Straight ahead is the administration building. On the ground floor are the rooms for visiting the prisoners. On the left is the building for the relatives to wait. If you arrive by car, you have to give your driver’s license to the security guards on duty. Notice the prison bus in front of the administration building. It is about to leave to take the prisoners to the courthouse in Samut Prakan city. It takes about 45 minutes and it is very hot and smelly for the prisoners. Some days it is also very cramped.

This picture was also taken from the bridge over the canal in front of the prison. This is looking to the left. At the front is the car park for visitors. The building behind is the canteen area for relations waiting to make a visit.

This is the front of the building as you arrive at the prison. This is where relatives go to meet the prisoners. The car park and the prison shop is to the left.

This is the prison shop where you can buy things for the prisoners. You cannot bring anything into the prison, so you have to buy here at the shop. The prices seem fair.

There is a form you have to fill with the quantity of each item. Unfortunately it is only in Thai.  Sometimes there is someone working there who knows some English.

This building is for the Vocational Training Center. To the left you can see one of the watch towers.

This is the gate that you have to pass through to see the prisoners. Above the door you can just see the red number “2″. This means that it is “round 2″. When you arrive, you have to first fill in a form (on the counter to the left of this picture) and then submit it to the office (behind me in this picture). They will then give you the round number for your visit.

If you like, you can do video conference with the prisoners inside the prison. This is usually quicker and you don’t need to book in advance. Not many people use this service so you will only have to wait about 15 minutes. Each television is for a different section in the prison. You will be able to see and hear them. They can also see you. The people you can see in the distance are in the waiting room. They are waiting for their turn for the normal visiting procedure. Most people prefer to see their relations in person rather than on television. This picture must have been taken before it was ready, as there is no sign of the camera on top of each television.

This is the visitor’s room. You can talk to the prisoner on the other side of the cage by using a telephone. You are given exactly 20 minutes and then they switch off the line. You are not allowed to take pictures in this room.

This is the corridor outside the prison cells. In this picture you can see three cells. Each floor has 16 cells. Outside each cell there is a water jug. The cell is about 4 metres wide and 7 metres deep. Each cell holds more than 60 prisoners. The prisoners are locked in here from 4.30 p.m. until early morning. Between 4.30 p.m. and 9 p.m. they are allowed to watch television. They show either a movie or a karaoke song. In this picture, some students are being shown around the prison.

This is a scan from a brochure for the prison. It shows the view from inside the cell.  It was obviously taken for publicity reasons. Although the size is correct, this is the cell reserved for the prison trustees. Normal cells don’t have mattresses and pillows like this. There are also over 50 people sleeping in this same space. The toilet is located behind the photographer. The televison is above the door. What is strange about these two photos is that it shows that you can see into the next cell. This must be an old photo as there is now a wall there.

This is a rare photograph showing the overcrowding in Thai prisons. This is basically the same room as the picture above, but with a lot more people. The middle row has 2-3 people lying side by side. There isn’t room for everyone to sleep on their backs like this. Many people can only sleep on their side. If they want to sleep on their back, or just to have that extra space, they then have to buy that right.  There is an open toilet in the same room with a low wall around it. If someone wants to go to the toilet during the night, they then have to clamber over all these limbs. For this reason it is lucky the light is left on all night. However, the bright light makes it difficult to get any sleep.

This is a picture of Section 2 (Dan 2) taken from the road. It is in the southeast corner of the compound. The two buildings to the left are the cell blocks. Each floor has 16 cells. The ground floor is the canteen area. The building on the right is the area where the Thai prisoners do occupational training. They make things like shoes and furniture. In front of this building is the playing field where the prisoners can play football at the weekend. However, during the rainy season, this is just a field of mud. Most of the foreigners will be housed in Dan 2.

This is the ground floor beneath the buildings where the prisoners sleep. You can see the gap between the two buildings. The ground floor usually has tables and benches and is used for eating. In these pictures, the tables have been cleared so that the prisoners could put on a concert. Inside the prison, the prisoners can wear normal clothes. However, they must wear shorts. Only guards can wear long trousers.

Tags: Samut Prakan Central Prison