Strict Censorship
We are very fortunate to have this email system for our BPA prisoners at Bangkwang. It helps a lot at both ends, using the emailing system must also be courteous as all correspondence goes through censorship.
EMAILING
Showing posts with label howtohelp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label howtohelp. Show all posts
15 February 2009
အက်ဥ္းသမားမ်ား ထိုင္းဘုရင္ထံ လြတ္ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းသာခြင့္ ေတာင္းခံျခင္း
ထိုင္းႏိုင္ငံအက်ဥ္းေထာင္ထဲက ႏွစ္ရွည္အက်ဥ္းသမားေတြဟာ တစ္ႏွစ္တစ္ခါ ထိုင္းဘုရင္ဆီကို
29 January 2009
Royal Pardon process - Urgent request
Once a year prisoners with 'long stay' in Thailand prisons submit their petitions to the King requesting His Royal Highness pardon.
This is a long process and very legal as it involves summaries of the case and the sentence.
This is a long process and very legal as it involves summaries of the case and the sentence.
22 September 2008
Writing to Prisoners
Why write?
I have always written to let the prisoner know that he or she is not forgotten, that somebody on the outside cares about what is happening to them. Most of Prisoners Abroad’s clients rarely get visitors, and you only have to have been in hospital to know what it feels like when the ward is full of visitors but you don’t have anyone. It’s a terrible feeling.
I have always written to let the prisoner know that he or she is not forgotten, that somebody on the outside cares about what is happening to them. Most of Prisoners Abroad’s clients rarely get visitors, and you only have to have been in hospital to know what it feels like when the ward is full of visitors but you don’t have anyone. It’s a terrible feeling.
19 July 2008
Care Packages
BANGKWANG
Basics such as:
toothpaste
toothbrush
shampoos
Vitamins manufacture-sealed and with proper nomenclature
(vitamins to help them overcome depression and as a supplement to their diet)
Medication with prescription support
soups in satchels
dry milk
oats in packs
magazines
books (all literature is censored)
writing material
drawing material (B&W, colour pencils, paper for drawing - NO sprays)
blank cards to post to their fan mail
anything that the prison shops do not sell/stock.
CLOTHES
Due to lack of space and because of heavy rainy periods, prisoners need to replace their damaged clothes frequently.
They only keep 2-3 changes, wash and wear.
Clothes have to be easy to dry.
Prisoners wear shorts only
Sandals or flip flops or they might ask what they want
WINTER - Oct-Jan
Jumpers specially the fleecy type that are light and warm.
Longjones are ideal
OTHER SEASONS
They live in T-shirts and flip flops
Towels, light in texture are also needed
Pillow case with a zipper. Prisoners stuff their belongings (clothes) inside the pillow case and use it as a pillow, their best way to keep their stuff together as it gets "lost".
KLONG PREM
To send clothes to a prisoner, he has to place a written request of what he is going to be sent, the prison officer authorises it, that form is sent to the sender who attaches the form to the parcel. It takes some weeks to get the form authorised.
No other care packages are allowed, check with the prison/prisoner if any changes.
Updated: 14 Dec'09
Basics such as:
toothpaste
toothbrush
shampoos
Vitamins manufacture-sealed and with proper nomenclature
(vitamins to help them overcome depression and as a supplement to their diet)
Medication with prescription support
soups in satchels
dry milk
oats in packs
magazines
books (all literature is censored)
writing material
drawing material (B&W, colour pencils, paper for drawing - NO sprays)
blank cards to post to their fan mail
anything that the prison shops do not sell/stock.
CLOTHES
Due to lack of space and because of heavy rainy periods, prisoners need to replace their damaged clothes frequently.
They only keep 2-3 changes, wash and wear.
Clothes have to be easy to dry.
Prisoners wear shorts only
Sandals or flip flops or they might ask what they want
WINTER - Oct-Jan
Jumpers specially the fleecy type that are light and warm.
Longjones are ideal
OTHER SEASONS
They live in T-shirts and flip flops
Towels, light in texture are also needed
Pillow case with a zipper. Prisoners stuff their belongings (clothes) inside the pillow case and use it as a pillow, their best way to keep their stuff together as it gets "lost".
KLONG PREM
To send clothes to a prisoner, he has to place a written request of what he is going to be sent, the prison officer authorises it, that form is sent to the sender who attaches the form to the parcel. It takes some weeks to get the form authorised.
No other care packages are allowed, check with the prison/prisoner if any changes.
Updated: 14 Dec'09
18 July 2008
VISITING BANGKWANG, KLONG PREM and other prisons
Source: Bangkwang Net
It is usually possible to go and visit a prisoner without prior notice.
These visits allow the visitor to have a conversation with only a fence,
( or two fences as at Bangkwang ) between yourself the prisoner.
Message boards around Bangkok invite the casual traveler to visit anytime.
SCHEDULES :
Bangkwang
Klong Prem
Lard Yao
Women's Prison
A typical story ... Another story (from the Bangkok Post - December 3, 2001)
It is also possible to go inside the prison to have a "contact" visit with a prisoner.
These visits must be arranged in advance. Here are the visit rules
Contact your friend's embassy about one month ahead of time.
Give them : 1) your friend's name and building number
2) approximate date(s) of visit.
3) your passport-name and passport number
The embassy can also arrange for regular ( frequent ) visiting schedules.
Check with the Department of corrections to be sure the visit permit has been granted.
BANGKWANG : (662)(02 525 0484) KLONG PREM/LARD-YAO : Mrs. Tithiporn :(662)(02-588-3283)
Some things you ARE PERMITTED to bring to your friend.
Some things you ARE NOT PERMITTED to bring to your friend.
Prisoners are usually limited to one, one-hour, visit per day.
Visitors may visit more than one prisoner, in any one day.
It helps to have your airplane ticket ... to show that you are NOT a local Thai person.
BANGKWANG Visit Days: (Klong Prem Schedule)
Building 1, 2 and 3 : Monday and Wednesdays
4, 5 and 6 : Tuesday and Thursday
7,8,9,10 and 12 : Friday ( 10 is solitary Confinement, get permission first )
hospital : Friday
No visits allowed during Weekends ( Saturday & Sunday ) or on National Holidays.
( NOTE : exceptions may be allowed during the annual contact visit at Bangkwang )
BANGKWANG Visit Times: (Klong Prem Visit Times)
morning :: from 09.30 - 11.30
afternoon :: from 13.30 - 14.30.
It is best to arrive at the registration office least a half hour early.
There is often a large crowd of local Thai people wanting to see their family.
Early visitors enjoy more time to visit and be there when it is not so noisy.
GETTING TO BANGKWANG:
Instructions from Khao-San-Road.com
BY RIVER-BOAT:
The Chao Praya River runs through most of downtown Bangkok.
Take the Chao Prayo Express boat upstream to Nonthaburi (about 10 baht from downtown).
Do NOT get in the TOURIST BOAT It does not go far enough.
Do not get on the Boat-Bus as it only crosses the river.
Get off at Nonthaburi ( it is the last stop for most boats ).
When you leave the boat terminal, go straight up the road.
Take the first left.
Walk about 100 yards up the road to the prison.
BY PUBLIC BUS:
It will wind through Bangkok to Nonthaburi.
BY PUBLIC TAXI:
Tell the driver to take you directly to Nonthaburi or Bangkwang.
You may have to insist that the driver goes directly.
Otherwise he/she may try to stop at some "special discount" jewelry shop.
AFTER ARRIVING AT THE FRONT GATE
Go into the Visitor Center ( across road from the main prison gate ).
Sign in with your passport.
Wait until the visit time is announced
Cross the road (follow the crowd), (pass the Foreign Affairs Office )
Sign in : (leave your cameras or other prohibited items at the desk.
Pass through the metal detectors and various steel doors.
Then pass by ther prison store ( get a bottle of water now !)
Finally, you will see the visitor gallery.
Your friend will sit across from you ... separated by double fencing.
Be prepared for a shouting match, as there may be other visitors seated near to you, each one trying to communicate as quickly and loudly as possible.
At the end of the visit you are allowed to leave any gifts for your friend at the desk in the visitors area. Otherwise, folow the crowd, back to the entrance gate.
The description, above, was for a non contact visit.
There are also one or two "contact" visits each year.
At this time, you can get inside the prison area for up to 1½ hours.
It is possible to make two of these visits in one day.
You must apply, through your friend's embassy, to the department of corrections.
Be sure to contact the prison to confirm that the visit has been approved,
There are several western missionaries and christian groups who have a visitation service.
Some of these will also deposit money to prisoner acounts.
Many prisoners and their relatives have made small posters that they place in guest-houses around Banglampoo or Khao San Road districts in Bangkok.
Some foreigners make a visit to Bangkwang, a part of their stay in Bangkok.
Organisations:
If you need more professional advice or help, refer to the British Orginazation .... PRISONERS ABROAD. They take care (medically and financaly) of british citizens imprisoned abroad and know quite a bit about Thailand and the general condition of prisoners.
It is no use to try to get in touch with either Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch, unless there is really serious trouble for your friend. They only get involved in very serious cases of torture and neglect. Hopefully this will never be the case for your friend.
As a relative (wife, brother and parents) you are allowed to visit twice a year (usually August and Christmas) where there are the so called "open periods", or "contact" visits, meaning that you can get two visits (two hours long) without the bars inbetween.
Friends are also allowed "contact" visits, but it requires some preparation.
Contact your friend's embassy, several months in advance of the visit.
Ask them to prepare the necessary permission papers.
Follow up with them and follow up with the prison office.
Be sure you have the correct paperwork completed, well before the visit !!
It is usually possible to go and visit a prisoner without prior notice.
These visits allow the visitor to have a conversation with only a fence,
( or two fences as at Bangkwang ) between yourself the prisoner.
Message boards around Bangkok invite the casual traveler to visit anytime.
SCHEDULES :
Bangkwang
Klong Prem
Lard Yao
Women's Prison
A typical story ... Another story (from the Bangkok Post - December 3, 2001)
It is also possible to go inside the prison to have a "contact" visit with a prisoner.
These visits must be arranged in advance. Here are the visit rules
Contact your friend's embassy about one month ahead of time.
Give them : 1) your friend's name and building number
2) approximate date(s) of visit.
3) your passport-name and passport number
The embassy can also arrange for regular ( frequent ) visiting schedules.
Check with the Department of corrections to be sure the visit permit has been granted.
BANGKWANG : (662)(02 525 0484) KLONG PREM/LARD-YAO : Mrs. Tithiporn :(662)(02-588-3283)
Some things you ARE PERMITTED to bring to your friend.
Some things you ARE NOT PERMITTED to bring to your friend.
Prisoners are usually limited to one, one-hour, visit per day.
Visitors may visit more than one prisoner, in any one day.
It helps to have your airplane ticket ... to show that you are NOT a local Thai person.
BANGKWANG Visit Days: (Klong Prem Schedule)
Building 1, 2 and 3 : Monday and Wednesdays
4, 5 and 6 : Tuesday and Thursday
7,8,9,10 and 12 : Friday ( 10 is solitary Confinement, get permission first )
hospital : Friday
No visits allowed during Weekends ( Saturday & Sunday ) or on National Holidays.
( NOTE : exceptions may be allowed during the annual contact visit at Bangkwang )
BANGKWANG Visit Times: (Klong Prem Visit Times)
morning :: from 09.30 - 11.30
afternoon :: from 13.30 - 14.30.
It is best to arrive at the registration office least a half hour early.
There is often a large crowd of local Thai people wanting to see their family.
Early visitors enjoy more time to visit and be there when it is not so noisy.
GETTING TO BANGKWANG:
Instructions from Khao-San-Road.com
BY RIVER-BOAT:
The Chao Praya River runs through most of downtown Bangkok.
Take the Chao Prayo Express boat upstream to Nonthaburi (about 10 baht from downtown).
Do NOT get in the TOURIST BOAT It does not go far enough.
Do not get on the Boat-Bus as it only crosses the river.
Get off at Nonthaburi ( it is the last stop for most boats ).
When you leave the boat terminal, go straight up the road.
Take the first left.
Walk about 100 yards up the road to the prison.
BY PUBLIC BUS:
It will wind through Bangkok to Nonthaburi.
BY PUBLIC TAXI:
Tell the driver to take you directly to Nonthaburi or Bangkwang.
You may have to insist that the driver goes directly.
Otherwise he/she may try to stop at some "special discount" jewelry shop.
AFTER ARRIVING AT THE FRONT GATE
Go into the Visitor Center ( across road from the main prison gate ).
Sign in with your passport.
Wait until the visit time is announced
Cross the road (follow the crowd), (pass the Foreign Affairs Office )
Sign in : (leave your cameras or other prohibited items at the desk.
Pass through the metal detectors and various steel doors.
Then pass by ther prison store ( get a bottle of water now !)
Finally, you will see the visitor gallery.
Your friend will sit across from you ... separated by double fencing.
Be prepared for a shouting match, as there may be other visitors seated near to you, each one trying to communicate as quickly and loudly as possible.
At the end of the visit you are allowed to leave any gifts for your friend at the desk in the visitors area. Otherwise, folow the crowd, back to the entrance gate.
The description, above, was for a non contact visit.
There are also one or two "contact" visits each year.
At this time, you can get inside the prison area for up to 1½ hours.
It is possible to make two of these visits in one day.
You must apply, through your friend's embassy, to the department of corrections.
Be sure to contact the prison to confirm that the visit has been approved,
There are several western missionaries and christian groups who have a visitation service.
Some of these will also deposit money to prisoner acounts.
Many prisoners and their relatives have made small posters that they place in guest-houses around Banglampoo or Khao San Road districts in Bangkok.
Some foreigners make a visit to Bangkwang, a part of their stay in Bangkok.
Organisations:
If you need more professional advice or help, refer to the British Orginazation .... PRISONERS ABROAD. They take care (medically and financaly) of british citizens imprisoned abroad and know quite a bit about Thailand and the general condition of prisoners.
It is no use to try to get in touch with either Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch, unless there is really serious trouble for your friend. They only get involved in very serious cases of torture and neglect. Hopefully this will never be the case for your friend.
As a relative (wife, brother and parents) you are allowed to visit twice a year (usually August and Christmas) where there are the so called "open periods", or "contact" visits, meaning that you can get two visits (two hours long) without the bars inbetween.
Friends are also allowed "contact" visits, but it requires some preparation.
Contact your friend's embassy, several months in advance of the visit.
Ask them to prepare the necessary permission papers.
Follow up with them and follow up with the prison office.
Be sure you have the correct paperwork completed, well before the visit !!
Writing to Prisoners - Emails
E-MAIL TO PRISONERS offered through the prison web-site. (See below this post please)
The e-mail is "free", but it is also extremely unreliable.
Use the postal mail as a back-up!
- All incoming and outgoing mail is censored.
- Censoring causes delays, sometimes short, sometimes long.
- Never send any form of money directly to the prisoner.
(money must be send through friends or the banking system).
Depending on the prisoner and the state of alert at the prison, some things may be "hot buttons" for the guards.
After you read "4000 Days" and read the other links in this site, you will be prepared to write a nice letter without endangering your friend.
SOME GOOD TOPICS:
About your life and their life.
Positive influences for their spirit and education
Sports, nature, games, international events
Ask what they are interested in.
WHAT ELSE TO INCLUDE:
They are pleased to accept International postal coupons.
Buy a coupon at your local Postal Office.
They will use it to pay for postage for return mailing.
How about a photo of yourself or your town ?
AVOID these topics:
Discussion of prison escapes, explosives and violence.
Mention of prison escape films and books :
such as : Midnight Express, Darkness at Noon ... and others.
Some religious topics and images are prohibited.
Ask your friend first .. before causing a problem.
NEVER, NEVER criticize the King of Thailand.
This MUST NEVER be done !!!!
A TYPICAL MAILING ADDRESS:
[[ prisoner's name ]]
Bangkwang Central Prison + [[building number]]
1 Nonthaburi Road
Nonthaburi 11000
Thailand
Sending E-Mail
This was taken from the prison Question and answer Bulletin Board "BBS",
Date : 13 of September 2001.
Question 1. How often are foreign prisoners allowed to receive e-mail?
2. Will they be able to reply to these messages through the prison's
e-mail facility?
3. Is there any costs involved for the prisoner who receives e-mail?
Name: Coreen Date: 12 September 01
Answer 1. At the time being, there are not a lot of emails sent to the inmates.
The prisons do not have problems printing out the emails.
There is no limit.
But we can not be assure of the situation in the future in case there
are too many mails coming in. There may be some following regulations.
2. The inmates do not get access to the internet.
So, they can not reply the emails. They may have to write letters.
3. The prisons pay the cost of e-mail as part of welfare scheme.
Prison's English Home page see "e-mail to prisoners".
bangkwang = kwang_bang@hotmail.com
klomg prem = klong_prem@hotmail.com
bang khen = women_khen@hotmail.com
Please see the prison page for the full list.
The e-mail is "free", but it is also extremely unreliable.
Use the postal mail as a back-up!
- All incoming and outgoing mail is censored.
- Censoring causes delays, sometimes short, sometimes long.
- Never send any form of money directly to the prisoner.
(money must be send through friends or the banking system).
Depending on the prisoner and the state of alert at the prison, some things may be "hot buttons" for the guards.
After you read "4000 Days" and read the other links in this site, you will be prepared to write a nice letter without endangering your friend.
SOME GOOD TOPICS:
About your life and their life.
Positive influences for their spirit and education
Sports, nature, games, international events
Ask what they are interested in.
WHAT ELSE TO INCLUDE:
They are pleased to accept International postal coupons.
Buy a coupon at your local Postal Office.
They will use it to pay for postage for return mailing.
How about a photo of yourself or your town ?
AVOID these topics:
Discussion of prison escapes, explosives and violence.
Mention of prison escape films and books :
such as : Midnight Express, Darkness at Noon ... and others.
Some religious topics and images are prohibited.
Ask your friend first .. before causing a problem.
NEVER, NEVER criticize the King of Thailand.
This MUST NEVER be done !!!!
A TYPICAL MAILING ADDRESS:
[[ prisoner's name ]]
Bangkwang Central Prison + [[building number]]
1 Nonthaburi Road
Nonthaburi 11000
Thailand
Sending E-Mail
This was taken from the prison Question and answer Bulletin Board "BBS",
Date : 13 of September 2001.
Question 1. How often are foreign prisoners allowed to receive e-mail?
2. Will they be able to reply to these messages through the prison's
e-mail facility?
3. Is there any costs involved for the prisoner who receives e-mail?
Name: Coreen Date: 12 September 01
Answer 1. At the time being, there are not a lot of emails sent to the inmates.
The prisons do not have problems printing out the emails.
There is no limit.
But we can not be assure of the situation in the future in case there
are too many mails coming in. There may be some following regulations.
2. The inmates do not get access to the internet.
So, they can not reply the emails. They may have to write letters.
3. The prisons pay the cost of e-mail as part of welfare scheme.
Prison's English Home page see "e-mail to prisoners".
bangkwang = kwang_bang@hotmail.com
klomg prem = klong_prem@hotmail.com
bang khen = women_khen@hotmail.com
Please see the prison page for the full list.
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