Free A Secret History of the Bangkok Hilton by Chavoret Jaruboon, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol Page B

the blue, he was informed that his parents, wife and child had come to see him. For any other inmate, this news would have been welcomed with nothing but joy. It was as much a cause of concern as of happiness for Sithi, however, when he met them.
    He paid his respects to his parents at their feet and hugged his wife and child. They were in shock and remained silent, however, because the smooth-skinned man with hairless arms and legs they saw was a stranger to them. Sithi sheepishly assured his parents that he was their son.
    Although they can be strained, contact visits are important in giving the inmates hope that they can be reunited with their families one day. Such visits take place twice a year and are special occasions for the prisoners. It gives them something to live for.
    During one such occasion, a wheelchair-bound
elderly Chinese man was waiting for his relatives who used to fly to Thailand to visit him every year without fail. This time, however, there was no sign of them. He suffered a heart attack and was rushed to the prison hospital. He passed away there. Perhaps, what he saw around him—people hugging, crying tears of joy and eating together—and the thought that he had been forgotten brought on the attack. His relatives arrived minutes later and, instead of a happy reunion, they tearfully collected his body.
    It can be lonely inside even though it is overcrowded. There are about 20 inmates sharing one cell and sometimes more. The lack of privacy is one way to prevent bad incidents from happening, however. If there is a fight, there will be witnesses. If a detainee seems suicidal, others will try to talk him out of it. Those thinking of escaping will find plenty of inmates who try to stop them as they know that if there is a break-out, their lives will become harder because the rules will be enforced more strictly. Lights are on all night during the lockdown and this troubles many inmates, especially the foreigners who complain that they cannot sleep and that the lights damage their eyes.
    At the other extreme are the hardened criminals. These men continue to make a living inside from committing acts of violence or even murder. They call themselves samurai and rich inmates hire them to kill or assault their opponents. Moneylenders hire them to teach their debtors a lesson if they miss a repayment.
    They have nothing left to lose and their chances of getting out are slim. They are either serving life sentences or have cases awaiting should they get out. They are not afraid of getting a longer sentence or being downgraded as they are already classified as the lowest in the prison. They don’t mind failing to get a sentence reduction when a mass royal pardon takes place. They don’t care about having their rights to see visitors taken away as their families have already disowned them.
    However they choose to spend their time, there is a lot of it. So the inmates find activities to distract themselves from the tedium of captivity. Some of them exercise, play musical instruments, watch TV or pet the many cats that live there too. The cats were brought in originally to combat a rat problem. Over time, their numbers have multiplied. These days, the animals serve as companions to the inmates more than predators of vermin. A fight can break out if an inmate harms a cat that is dear to another.
    Some inmates train the cats to carry small items, such as packets of instant coffee or cigarettes, to their friends in the next cell. They attach the items with adhesive tape onto the cat’s neck. Some years ago, an inmate was caught using his cat as a drug-runner. He taped the delivery onto its belly and somehow the feline managed to take the drug to his client in another building.
    Some of them use the downtime to assert their sense of self and gain recognition from their peers though, for example, getting tattoos. In Thai culture, tattoos have magic powers. Having a tattoo is like carrying a talisman on your body. In