Prey Sar Prison Phnom Penh Cambodia
Prey Sar Prison Phnom Penh Cambodia
The conditions in the Central Jail in Phnom Penh have long been an issue for Human Right Groups and Families of those incarcerated.
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Prey Sar Prison Phnom Penh Cambodia
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Physical Assault and Torture resulting in death of prisoner:
Prisoner beaten and tortured to death Prey Sar
The feast for the Media
For western TV Stations like BBC,CNN and FOX Prey Sar Prison has the stuff their TV-Producers dream about. A short while ago the FOX "Americas most wanted" show Reported by John Walsh www.amw.com-somaly-mam.jpg
turned up with Jim Gamble jim gamble & john walsh
the former UK policeman and now CEOP Pedo Hunter to film and interview american paedo's. The Prisoners where told that the Film Crew was a visiting NGO that was trying to improve the prison conditions. There was not a single American in Prison so they simply asked Gamble jim gambel at prey sar prison
to produce them some Brits for the Interview (behind bars). The John Walsh Production started filming first at The killing fields with CEOP's Jim Gamble in a CEOP T-Shirt. Perhaps they have forgotten that those attrocities have been "rewarded"to the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot a long time ago. What does that have to do with those convicted for Child Abuse / Paedophelia ?
CNN was doing a show about sex tourism for "AMW - America's most wanted" show. What was missing was American sex Tourists in Jail. Jim Gamble the ex UK Policeman provides the only 2 British Pre-trial Prisoners (out of 3000 in 102 cells) although by law they are innovent until proven guilty and have the right to protection by law. Gamble does'nt care about that kind of abuse , he is above the law and provides Walsh the two Brits so he can make his movie in order to generate viewers and income for the TV Producers,CNN etc.
Overcrowding and Sanitation / Healthcare major threats to Prisoners
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An Imate reports:
Here is an inside report from a young man who was just thrown into jail a short while ago. Because of his illegal blog via a smuggeled in mobile phone he and his life now is in real danger.
Blog entry:
The first couple of days in here were the toughest.
I had no cash, no clothes, no possebillity to find out what was going on in the outside world.
Being last to enter the cell, my mandatory sleepingplace was offcourse the floor. The space 2*1,80 and 6 guys to try to fit. Offcourse, by being 1,90, I couldnt stretch my legs & couldnt either hav them bent, cos then my knees were in the back of the guy sleeping in the lowest hammock. We are lucky, in our room we have 6 hammocks, 3 high up hangin between the window-bars and 3 between the toilet-divider-wall and the cell-door. Saves shitloads of space.
5 nights the poor bastards had to try to fit around me on the floor, where the air is standing still and the heat making it unbareable, choking for air and sweating like pigs. Having stranger men on and under me skin to skin was also a new experience, not to easy to get comfortable with. Elbows and knees in yr soft areas, by any of the ones lucky enough to be able to fall asleep, was and is always handled with the "forgive and forget"-rule.
Finally my loyal and since long time close friend, -my brother, speaking a language I most often understand as well as my own, managed to get some basic supplies & well needed $ in to me.
The guards wont let u recieve visitors 1st month, unless u pay stupid amounts of money. But somehow he managed to get them to deliver a bag to me.
I paid 20 bucks & got a space on the platform, 1,90 long and 47,5cm wide space, with linoleum (wax-cloth) so we dont have to sleep straight on the concrete.
Sleeping without a mattress, on plain stone-floor, was first a painful technique I had to learn the first 5 nights in the holding-cell, back at the police-station in phnom penh.
But u can get used to most things.
Offcourse I cant fit in 47,5cm, laying flat on my back, so a new technique to lay on the side and spoon with my neighbours in whatever direction the entire platform seemed to have chosen for the night, had to be learned.
Its funny, how my old boss at Ellco Food had a saying that Ive carried with me for the rest of my life. Bubba was wise and many times when we had a shitjob that had to be done, he used to say:
If u cant change ur situation, the best thing you can do is:
Learn to like it.
Learn to like it... Well, its surprising how many times Ive found this wisdom useful, but never has it been so hard to practice this method, as in the situation I now found myself in.
But! Compared to the floor situation, this was rather easy to like and now I had cash to buy water and cigarettes & other stuff such as gas to cook the fish or choice of proteinsource to go with the rice.
Rice.... Fuck that is one thing I have never successfully learned to like. Most times it turns around and I chew it again and try to get it down the throat with amounts of water..
Im a bit tired today, so wont be much more writing, but want to mention that today we had a bit of a special day. Traditional tea-drinking-ceremony which is done when someone is going to go to the court. funny enough, coffe, they fill with sugar till it looses the taste of coffe, but tea is apparently supposed to be as bitter as possible.
If plants had a gall-bladder, their tea would be the direct contents from this one, then boiled looooong aand concentrated up till some undrinkable fluid, that will keep a horse awake for a week.
Urk!pic-2.jpg
Attached photos were taken in the ambient afternoon-darkness of the cell, during tea-ceremony.
Hereby I can personally confirm that torture occurrs in prey sar. This ceremony, I guess, is what makes the wait for court-date more bareable. At least I wont have to drink that piss for a while, I can comfort myself...Sunday, July 31, 2011
Normal behaviour?
Dont remember really where I stopped writing last time.
One could think that life in prison would be booring and that time would be very long and hard to pass.
But during this first month, so many things have happened every single day, so it has actually been very interresting.
Offcourse getting this phone in here & having access to internet is the main essentiallity. Being able to follow life on the outside, get information and actively work, makes all the difference!
Just finding ways to smuggle illegal devices such as this, is a challenge & takes alot of effort. Trial and error, loss of cash and time is all a part of it.
The first weeks I was very sick, couldnt eat and was hungry and exhausted most of the time. Several attempts to get to the hospital when the NGO:s are here, which turned out to be a big nothing. They are just as useless as the "doctor" in here.
Getting the right medication or treatment is completely impossible & finally I concluded that sending a corrupt guard to the pharmacy and practice self-diagnose & treatment is the only way to go.
At one point I was so sick of parasites and full of different medicines for the wrong things so I didnt have energy to even drink anymore.
My cellmates managed to get me to the hospital, where they put drip and then tossed me off at a bunk in one of the hospital-cells.
In there the prisoners are the doctors and luckily I was well taken care of, by ine of the inmates, who obviously had seen alot in there.
fever of 41 degrees C, shakes and shivvering turned into cramps & then I passed out and wasnt possible to get me concious again for about 30 hours.
The prisoner who took care of me, constantly wiped my entire body with ice-water, to keep my temperature down, changed my drip and apparently the entire population of the cell had inspected my private (or should they be called public) -parts, during my coma.
The fashination of westeners seem to have no limitations.
They all told me about this after I woke up, just as if it was a natural thing to do.
When I came back to my senses (?) the staff quickly made sure I got back to block A.
Many people likes to stay in the hospital-area, since there is a little bit more freedom and space.
By now I only still suffer from a both-sided ear-infection & caugh.
-feeling really healthy, considering!
The fact that Ive had canned food, gruel and oat-meal brought in from the outside, allows me to most of the time have a full stomach & that makes all the difference!
Another funny incident regarding what is considered "normal" occurred last night.
-we have a dvd-player in the cell, so every evening when the electricity comes on, its movie-time.
The 16 khmer guys in the cell will watch absolutely any shit, as long as the screen has moving images and some sounds.
But obviously - being in prison - porn is the absolute favourite to watch.
Last night I was slumbering, woke up around 9 pm, to try call my girl (imprisoned at P2).
I wake up and find 15 khmer men aged 18-30 sitting around the 8" screen, watching a large sized dog, licking the .. Eh.. "public" area of a woman. (guessing german shepard-ish race... Referring to the dog..).
I make my phonecall and realize 30 minutes later, that they still are watching the same movie, which by now was way passed ..eh.. The foreplay-stages.
I shake my head and try to get the disturbing images out of my head and go back to sleep.
An hour later, the 15 guys havent moved an inch and the same dvd is still playing,
- sit up and ask in khmer:
-what the hell!?? Why are you watching that shit? A dog fucking a girl!?
a few of them turn on their heads and one answers:
- its not a dog, now its a pig fucking a girl!
- Ah! Well! That explains it? Thats totally different then...?
I give up.
......
Chains of logic in cambodia:
Today is sunday. Thats equal to rain, which is equal to not being allowed to go outside, which usually means that some for of illegal drug will be consumed in most cells, - to make time pass...
another chain of logic as a good friend of mine recently explained to me: the bordertowns are great. There is usually casinos.
where there is gambling, there is prostitution, and where prostitution is, there is amfetamines!
.....
I have come to realize that my blog dont really follow a straight line of occurances - leading towards anything.
I must admit Im not to structured and have missed to write about many essential developments.
I guess I could have givven a way easier story to follow, if I sat down and put alot of effort into trying to summarize the main events of the passed month, but I just need to focus on stuff currently in motion and blog about the past and current, as I go along.
If it makes no sense to you, the best tip I can give u is:
-Learn to like it.
Posted by Unknown at 12:08 AM
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New England Clam Chowder
July 29, 2011
The first couple of days in here were the toughest.
I had no cash, no clothes, no possebillity to find out what was going on in the outside world.
Being last to enter the cell, my mandatory sleepingplace was offcourse the floor. The space 2*1,80 and 6 guys to try to fit. Offcourse, by being 1,90, I couldnt stretch my legs & couldnt either hav them bent, cos then my knees were in the back of the guy sleeping in the lowest hammock. We are lucky, in our room we have 6 hammocks, 3 high up hangin between the window-bars and 3 between the toilet-divider-wall and the cell-door. Saves shitloads of space.
5 nights the poor bastards had to try to fit around me on the floor, where the air is standing still and the heat making it unbareable, choking for air and sweating like pigs. Having stranger men on and under me skin to skin was also a new experience, not to easy to get comfortable with. Elbows and knees in yr soft areas, by any of the ones lucky enough to be able to fall asleep, was and is always handled with the "forgive and forget"-rule.
Finally my loyal and since long time close friend, -my brother, speaking a language I most often understand as well as my own, managed to get some basic supplies & well needed $ in to me.
The guards wont let u recieve visitors 1st month, unless u pay stupid amounts of money. But somehow he managed to get them to deliver a bag to me.
I paid 20 bucks & got a space on the platform, 1,90 long and 47,5cm wide space, with linoleum (wax-cloth) so we dont have to sleep straight on the concrete.
Sleeping without a mattress, on plain stone-floor, was first a painful technique I had to learn the first 5 nights in the holding-cell, back at the police-station in phnom penh.
But u can get used to most things.
Offcourse I cant fit in 47,5cm, laying flat on my back, so a new technique to lay on the side and spoon with my neighbours in whatever direction the entire platform seemed to have chosen for the night, had to be learned.
Its funny, how my old boss at Ellco Food had a saying that Ive carried with me for the rest of my life. Bubba was wise and many times when we had a shitjob that had to be done, he used to say:
If u cant change ur situation, the best thing you can do is:
Learn to like it.
Learn to like it... Well, its surprising how many times Ive found this wisdom useful, but never has it been so hard to practice this method, as in the situation I now found myself in.
But! Compared to the floor situation, this was rather easy to like and now I had cash to buy water and cigarettes & other stuff such as gas to cook the fish or choice of proteinsource to go with the rice.
Rice.... Fuck that is one thing I have never successfully learned to like. Most times it turns around and I chew it again and try to get it down the throat with amounts of water..
Im a bit tired today, so wont be much more writing, but want to mention that today we had a bit of a special day. Traditional tea-drinking-ceremony which is done when someone is going to go to the court. funny enough, coffe, they fill with sugar till it looses the taste of coffe, but tea is apparently supposed to be as bitter as possible.
If plants had a gall-bladder, their tea would be the direct contents from this one, then boiled looooong aand concentrated up till some undrinkable fluid, that will keep a horse awake for a week.
Urk!
Attached photos were taken in the ambient afternoon-darkness of the cell, during tea-ceremony.
Hereby I can personally confirm that torture occurrs in prey sar. This ceremony, I guess, is what makes the wait for court-date more bareable. At least I wont have to drink that piss for a while, I can comfort myself...
Header of the day is dedicated to the can of conserved food I got brought to me today. It was delicious! No rice at all!
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close together
(July 29, 2011??)
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my first words in my first blog ever
(July 27, 2011?)
its funny.
as I was registring the blog I was thinking weather it was a really bad or a good idea to start a blog.
Maybe this will only get me into some real trouble, like pissing of some real hotshot of prey sahr, by revealing what they work so hard to keep secret from the entire outside world.
As the page for creating a post is being loaded my screen goes blank and all thats left is the headline of the page-tab in the web-browser.
Obviously I cant help but looking at d only info available:
You are done!
Ironic. Or a mysterious warning.
I quickly go through the settings and remove the blog from search-engines & also decide to change adress from preysahr, to phnompenhprison, to ensure my half-inkognito so I wont have to worry about gettin paranoia-thoughts in the middle of the night.
Its amazing what efforts they go through to keep the reality of the inside of the walls, secret from the world.
No NGO or embassy has ever been allowed inside any of the blocks.
No photos. Not even thee guards are allowed to have mobile-phones.
US-embassy & a handfull of NGO:s have been allowed to walk on the main isle, halfway into the complex, take a left and walkthrough the "showroom" ie. Library and hospital, where things actually look really pleasant. Unless ur really sick and happen to be a prisoner. more about that later...
But its surprising, just try to google "prey sahr" and see for yourself the extent of information and statements about this place!
Just the essential little pieces of information, such as the fact that drinkable water must be paid for... Or.. Lets just say: Nothing in here is for free.
Everything you have to pay for.
It starts with your place to sleep, water and from there on, anything u whish to have or do -it has a pricetag.
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untitled post
(July 26, 2011??)
When I first came to this place, I was surpriced to see how beautiful it actually was inside the high double walls with barbed wire on d top. (after I and the 5 guys I arrived with had been forced to remove all clothing except underwear.)
Prey Sahr translates to white forrest, and in here its very green with palmtrees and greenery of different size and vriations. Empty bascetballcourses and little parks with wlking isles, and a dousin of huge 2 stories-buildings with beige-yellow painting and orange roofs.
And it was silent. As we walked through the facilities, to block A (not yet sentenced-prisoners-block) I tried to look get an idea about the conditions behind the dark double-barred windows of the buildings we were passing by.
There seemed to be an incredible noise and thousands of voices shouting from within the dark holes of the beautiful facades of the buildings.
As we came through the big gate in the wall that divided block A from the rest of the prison, finally there was some real noise, not only the suffacated shouts from within the mysterious dark gaps, giving away an idea about the true nature of what to the eye could seem not so horrorful.
Behind block A- wall there were prisoners working hard under the afternoon-sun, with constructing what seems to be 2 new cell-blocks, - indicating that the present blockA building does not have enough room to house the amount of prisoners that were continously being sent here.
As we came up to the entrance of blockA, I peered into the darkness and now was closer than ever to the indistinctive shouts of a thoousand voices. Now it was very loud, but still impossible to separate one voice from another.
i will never 4get my immediate chock at arrival of my cell-door and my surprice as it was opened. It was exactly d feel of a overcrowded elevator& I instinctivly took a polite step 2 d side 2 let a few out. The guard grunted & pushed me in direction to enter the room where it seemed to not be any place for me to fit & as he closed the door, it swept me inside!
Hello, I say to about 20 faces staring at me, and I try to make my way through the room, in attempt to find a spot to not be in someones way.
-COOKIE!! I suddely hear and down in the corner I recognize fat-andy pale and still fat.
I was surprices to hear such posetivity in his vvoice as he shouted my name, as the last time I saw him, it was by the end of my telescope-batong, collecting a debt.
Well - he seemed to let that be water under the bridge, and truth to say, - I was really glad to see someone/something familiar, in this new enviroment.
Fat-Andy has a different style & is not someone who would ever be called "normal". On many levels. There is something "lurky", or hidden in his way to be. Certainly I would have an interresting time, stayin close to this man for an extended period of time -perhaps I would uncover his so doublesided appearance.
Fatty didnt have much, not even a towel, but whatever he had he happily helped me out & shared with me. His old T-shirt would have to do as towel for both of us during my first week, before my loyal and good friends from outside had managed to get me some basic appliances.
3 comments:
lehaandiAugust 27, 2011 at 1:54 PM
Can I ask for your permission to copy your post to my blog?
AnonymousSeptember 21, 2011 at 7:00 AM
As a former inmate of Prey Sar I do confirm the living conditions describe here. All his writing about the jail is correct and he is obviously inside but not too bright as it is easy for the police to spot him thanks to the pictures and him mentioning his friend. They are cleaver than they look and I am sure they already got his phone now.
AnonymousOctober 25, 2011 at 2:28 AM
Hi, I have someone I want to write letters to and send care packages in Prey Sar,but I'm unfamiliar with the mail rules of this prison and afraid that if I send something that the person might not get it.
How often do you guys get mail?
How often are you allowed to write back?
Should I send stationary for this person to write back? envelopes,post stamps?
How about sending vitamins? to keep this person in best health possible.
When writing a letter are you allowed to write with colours?(gel pens)? should the return address be written on the letter as well as envelope? books,magazines or any other items that are considered luxury. Any info on this subject would be greatly appreciated. I'll be checking back to see if I have a reply... Thank you.
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Even the Press is now concerned:
See picutres, below for the idea: They put children in the same cell as murderers and rapists. Well, at least they don't have to worry about learning a job !
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A recent Newspaper report claimed that in Prison nothing is for free, supporting the above claim.
see:in-prison-everything-costs-money.jpg
As a Pedophile Suspect or Sex Offender you are not likely to find anybody outside the jail to provide you with money, food or medicine. Local and international Media will have a feast on you and you can regard yourself as good as dead ! As a celebrity you're chances for ever recovering to a normal live are as good as zero. The Press will hunt you down wherever you go. Gary Glitter's case is the best example of how much you are likely to become a valued prey for the media once you are on the outside again.
Don't count on your Embassy, they usually don't feel resonsable for their citizens, abroad. see David Makhout's email exchange incl. the French Embassy and French Media:The emailFiles------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Prison Price List of Prey Sar and Prey See Prison Phnom Penh
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Prison Scams Part 1 (PJ PRISON)
PJ is a small MOI prison, just outside Toul Kork, it is also called Prey See and nicknamed Pay See.
Conditions are better than Prey Sar, but only a little. There are around 200 male and 50 femail prisoners, most spend an average of $2,000 to be moved to PJ and then additional money to upgrade to a "VIP cell".
The scams at PJ are not as prolific as Prey Sar but are still significant. In general, prison guards try to improve the level of comfort, in return for cash.
VIP Upgrade
To upgrade to a VIP Cell costs around $400, the VIP cells are around 4mx6m and hold 5 prisoners. Each room has a ceiling fan, 24/7 and a single toilet / shower.
A similar cell in Prey Sar would hold 20 prisoners.
Exercise
At PJ, everyone gets 1 hour exercise per day. Extra exercise can be paid for at around $50 per month.
Visits
PJ is in a MOI office compound, visitors must first pay $2.50 - $5.00 at a MOI road block, to MOI uniformed guards (one with 3 stripes).
A further 50c is paid outside PJ to park your bike, even though you are in a MOI compound. Another 50c if you have a mobile phone, which is kept at the gate.
Then you pay $2.50 for the visit at the gate and then you pay another $2.50 at a small desk outside the directors office.
There is no official visit charge, but a visit to a prisoner at PJ will cost up to $11. Extra can be demanded in the visiting area to extend the permitted 1 hour visit.
Room and board
Prisoners are expected to pay a minimum of $5 each yer month for the room. Failure to pay first results in the ceiling fan being removed and if you do not pay the debt and re-connection, you get moved to another prison.
Mains water is free but drinking water costs $2.50, 2.5x the normal price, the closest water supplier is just a few meters down the road.
Beer and whisky
A can of beer costs $1.50, each room of 5 is limited to a maximum of half a case. Local rice wine is available in 500ml bottles and Jonny Walker is available by special negotiation in bottles up to 3.5ltr ($350).
Drugs
Drugs are available from a wide selection. Ice is the most popular, followed by codiene and valium.
I do not have experience of how much police guards are paid for drugs.
Random payments
Extra payments are discretional, but considering the 6 VIP rooms are full and demand is high, an extra $50 here and there, ensures that you can stay in prison.
Luxuries
You name it, fans, fridges, phones, laptops - your imagination is limited only by your wallet. The VIP area is kept locked and away from the view of NGOs, as long as the MOI are paid the (mafia) vig every month, the deputee prison director can safely drive his Lexus SUV.
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2008 assessment by the U.S. Statedepartment published via UNHCR:
Prison and Detention Center Conditions
Prison conditions did not meet international standards. Conditions remained harsh and at times were life threatening. Government efforts to improve them continued to be hampered by a lack of funds and weak enforcement. Human rights organizations cited a number of serious problems, including overcrowding, medical and sanitation problems, food and water shortages, malnutrition, and poor security.
There were reports at some prisons that cells of 40 by 20 feet held up to 110 prisoners. At Correctional Center 1 prison, cells of 26 by 26 feet held an average of 50 prisoners. In some prisons authorities used shackles and held prisoners in small, dark cells as a form of harsher punishment. There were reports that at least 36 prisoners died in custody in 18 prisons during the year.
On April 6, in the Toul Sangke area of Russei Keo District in Phnom Penh, a mob beat Bun Vannarith for allegedly stealing a necklace. After police arrived on the scene, they took the man to the hospital for treatment but then removed him with a doctor's approval and placed him in police detention. Police later found Bun Vannarith dead in his cell; there was no police investigation of his death.
On April 28, 21-year-old prisoner Yan Sok Kea died at Preah Monivong Hospital, reportedly from a high fever. An NGO believed the death was the result of delays in providing medical treatment.
On November 21, 24-year-old prisoner Heng Touch died at Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh. Prey Sar prison officials reported that Heng Touch was trying to kill himself by banging his head against a wall. However, persons close to the victim reported that before Heng Touch was sent to the hospital, he told them that he had been beaten with a metal rod wrapped with cloth. An NGO reported Heng Touch had serious injuries to his skull and torso. A hospital medical certificate stated that he suffered multiple traumas and died while in a coma. The victim's family filed a complaint to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, and the court investigation reportedly was ongoing at year's end.
An NGO reported that one elderly woman died while in detention in one of the MOSAVY rehabilitation centers, having had no access to medical care.
Government ration allowances for purchasing prisoners' food routinely were misappropriated and inadequate, exacerbating malnutrition and disease. One NGO claimed that in some cases prison authorities sold the NGO's donations of supplemental food intended for prisoners. According to rights organizations, families had to bribe prison officials to visit prisoners or provide food and other necessities. NGOs reported that prisoners whose families bribed prison authorities received preferential treatment including access to visitors, transfer to better cells, and the opportunity to leave cells during the day.
There were credible reports that officials demanded bribes before allowing prisoners to attend trials or appeal hearings and before releasing inmates who had served full jail terms.
In most prisons there was no separation of adult and juvenile prisoners, of male and female prisoners, or of persons convicted of serious crimes and persons detained for minor offenses. Pretrial detainees were routinely held together with convicted prisoners. As of December 2012 at total of 703 minors ages 13 to 17 reportedly were incarcerated, and many were held in prisons that did not have facilities to separate minors from adult prisoners. Also as of December, it was reported that three pregnant women were in prison, and at least 43 children were detained together with their mothers.
The government generally continued to allow international and domestic human rights groups, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, to visit prisons and provide human rights training to prison guards. However, NGOs reported that at times cooperation from local authorities was limited, sometimes making it difficult to gain access to pretrial detainees. The Ministry of Interior (MOI) continued to require that lawyers, human rights monitors, and other visitors obtain permission prior to visiting prisoners. The MOI withheld such permission in some politically sensitive cases. Contrary to previous years, at times officials permitted NGOs to interview prisoners in private.
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Christmas in Prey Sar Prison - Phnom Penh Cambodia 2012
http://phnompenhpost.com/2012122560466/National/a-christmas-in-prey-sar-prison.html
A Christmas in Prey Sar prison
Last Updated on 26 December 2012
By Shane Worrell and May Titthara (Phnom Penh Post)
Unlike most expats in Cambodia who couldn’t make it home for Christmas this year, Chulsoo* has not told his family – including his two daughters – what’s keeping him in Phnom Penh.
That’s because Chulsoo, a Christian man in his 50s from South Korea, doesn’t want his family to know he’s locked in Prey Sar prison.
“I still haven’t told them I’m here,” he said during an interview with the Post inside the maximum security prison’s Correctional Center 1 last week.
Chulsoo has already spent one Christmas in Prey Sar, the biggest prison in the country, and knows today will be full of yearning for family he can’t be near and festivities he can’t enjoy.
“I’m Catholic, and Christmas is important to me,” the Korean man, dressed in standard-issue blue prison attire, said. “But we won’t be able to organise anything this year.”
In fact, apart from possible visits from prison support and church groups, Chulsoo, who has served 18 months of a four-year sentence for “commercial crime”, expected today to be just like any other.
There will be no visits from friends and family – like many foreign prisoners, Chulsoo has no loved ones in Cambodia – just long hours in a large dormitory where scores of men sleep on a hard floor.
“I don’t want to make negative points about being here,” Chulsoo said. “Prison is prison and you have to take the hardships. But it’s tough.”
Crowded cells
Prey Sar, known as S-24 during the Khmer Rouge regime, has long had a reputation for overcrowding, substandard food and sporadic supplies of clean drinking water.
Although the Ministry of Interior’s prison department wouldn’t reveal the precise numbers of prisoners in Prey Sar yesterday – or say what percentage of inmates are foreign – Jeff Vize, an advocacy consultant for rights group Licadho, said CC1, where adult males are held, was at almost twice its capacity.
“The prison department generally uses two square metres per prisoner as its standard baseline in calculating capacity,” he said.
“International standards suggest that two square metres per person is acceptable only on a temporary basis for ‘crisis situations’. A better figure is somewhere between 3.5 and 5.5 square metres of accommodation space per person.
“If you use those numbers, the Prey Sar prisons could be filled somewhere around 400 per cent of capacity.”
Overcrowding had numerous negative effects on a prison’s resources, including food, which was already in short supply and of poor quality, Vize said.
“Think of a prison’s resources as a pie: food, water, recreation space, visiting time, fresh air, medical care, programs – these resources are all available in limited, finite quantities. As more people are crammed into a prison, the pieces of the pie get smaller.”
Shiro*, 30, a Japanese man who is serving a sentence for drug trafficking, is fortunate to have a wife who treks to the outskirts of Phnom Penh each day to give him food she has cooked herself.
“I never eat in prison. It’s just really bad food,” he said.
When the Post visited Prey Sar, wives and children were delivering food of their own.
They handed over their phones to guards, raised their arms to be patted down and filed into a long room where their loved ones waited for them through a window on the other side of the wall.
One foreign inmate whose family or friends won’t be among visitors at Prey Sar today is John*, a South African who has spent three years in prison for a crime he won’t disclose.
Christmas has both religious and cultural significance for John, who is Christian; it’s a day to celebrate God and spend time with family – two things that will be difficult in prison.
“Last year, we asked the prison director to have Christmas here,” he said. “We asked for special food like cake and we got it, but it was only in our rooms. There was no gathering or anything.”
With “nothing special” planned this year, John will spend most of his day thinking about his three children in South Africa, with whom he exchanges hand-written letters and sometimes speaks to on the phone.
“Being without family is just horrible,” he said.
Encouragement and hope
Without friends and family in Cambodia, foreign prisoners live lonely existences.
Prison Fellowship Cambodia, an inter-denominational Christian NGO, is one group working to make prison life more bearable for inmates, regardless of religion, and bring more hope to foreigners who are spending Christmas inside.
“We have a lot of churches we work with,” executive director Adam Hutchinson said. “They will run programs – they’re never just for Christian prisoners . . . and they’re not evangelical.”
In the lead-up to Christmas, Prison Fellowship had been meeting prisoners in Prey Sar and elsewhere and working with churches to plan meals and entertainment for today.
Different prisons had different programs, Hutchinson said, depending on how much funding came from overseas institutions, including church groups.
“In some years, we have been able to have everyone come out and have food and packages for them all.”
Koy Boun Sorn, director-general of the department of prisons at the Ministry of Interior, said he would allow prisoners in Prey Sar today to “take a day off” from their undisclosed “usual duties” to spend time with their loved ones.
“December 25 is not a public holiday, so our prison staff will be working as normal, but for foreign prisoners we allow them to . . . celebrate or do something with their families in prison.”
Prey Sar officials regularly allowed prisoners to celebrate religious and cultural events, Boun Sorn added.
“We also allow NGOs who work with Christians to come and do something.”
Despite the planning that went into feeding prisoners and providing entertainment on Christmas Day, Prison Fellowship’s visits to prisoners were simply aimed at giving them basic support and encouragement, Hutchinson said.
“For foreign prisoners, we will provide a special visit on Christmas Day. But it really is quite casual. It just gets them out of their cells,” he said.
“For Christians, they get to celebrate a significant event. For them to be able to celebrate a meaningful event gives them hope. God has not forgotten them just because they are in prison.
“The biggest thing in prison [for everyone] is just to have
encouragement and hope,” he said.
*Names have been changed for privacy reasons
unquote
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Visiting a prisoner in Prey Sar Prison
Here is a short overview of what a participant of khmer440.com blog experienced himself:
e: Visiting prisoners in Prey Sar.
Postby Danper » Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:59 pm
I've visited a friend (male) in Prey Sar a total of about 5 times till about a month ago.
All I needed was a photocopy of my passport and I would write the name of the prisoner and the country they're from on it to make it a bit easier.
On my last visit I was quoted 2000 reil to see him on the phone (this is where you speak to him through a mess/plastic glass window with a phone like on the movies) or 10,000 reil face to face (this is where you can visit him in the garden outdoor area). This amount you pay at the office outside the prison in the waiting area where they do the paper work and you hand over the photocopy of your passport.
In addition I would have to pay another 2000 reil to the guard as I entered the prison.
I also brought him supplies such as medication and chocolates/food etc, I did not pay anything additional to hand this over, I also did not hand over anymore more cash to get my phone back either. If you have a moto its 3,000 to park it, I normally took my push bike and that's free, tuk tuk up and back from PP will cost you about $10 -/+ total.
I never went with a translator and managed to get by, I cannot speak khmer.
The first time you go it can be very duanting, every guard that walks past will ask you for money, the first time I went I was a walking atm machine and handed out more money than I care to admit, by my second visit I had enough and by my third I would only give money to the office and as I entered.
I have been quoted different prices to see him face to face, from memory $5 was the highest. And at one point the rules changed so that you needed a letter from the embassy of the prisoner to visit him, but this was no longer needed on my last visit.
Opening hours are 9-11 and 2-4 from memory, be sure to get there by 9am or 2pm.
Also, one time I was not allowed to enter because I had a blue shirt, which was the same colour as the prisoners, obviously I was not told about this until after I had handed over my cash and then they refused to let me in. So no blue shirts either.
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The living Hell
Foreign Pedophiles died in Cambodian Jail
A number of convicted westerners accused of Pedophilia died in Cambodian Jail. This overview is by no means complete. Research is still continuing.
1. Bart Lauwaert (Australian)
bartlauwaert-death.jpg
2. Donald Rene Ramirez (USA)
commited suicide after arrest in Phnom Penh
donald-rene-ramirez-50.jpg
3. Abrihim Escori (Swedish) (August 2011)
abrihim-escori-dies-in-jail.jpg
The Brothpital - Monivong Hospital Phnom Penh
Monivong Hospital - The Broth(el)pital
The Monivong Hospital is acutally a VIP Prison disguised as a medical facility.
It is a large 4 story Hospital with an estimated 40-50 wards. Only 2 wards are actually used in 2012, one for women and their babies, another one for men. The rest of the wards are empty of patients, while stainless beds, chairs and other fixtures are still in wrapping and none of it is used.
SCAMS
While in Hospital at Monivong a patient (inmate) described that the wife of an older man who had a stroke was told that her husband would die without medical treatment. She was told that the treatment would cost 5.000 $ and possibly du to stress and coercion, she paid.
The husband was simply given Paracetamol and now his wife cannot even afford to feed her baby. Khmer authorities had already frozen his account.
BEATINGS
A western patient (inmate) was beaten and robbed by prison guards on arrival. Later he attempted suicide with drugs and a razor. The "Doctor"never looked at him once and claimed that he had arrived with the injuries from police beating and the razor.
FOOD AND WATER
With a temperatur of well above the mid 30's (Centegrade) and a Humidity of well above 95% it is easy to understand that Water becomes a Lifesaver when available in Quantity, which is not if you don't have the Money to pay for it. Prisoners must buy Water form a Police owned Shop outside the Hospital grounds. Drinking Water costs 1,25$ for 12 500ml Bottles (rather than the normal 20 Ltr. Drinking Water Bottles).
VISITS
Family can visit all day, the charge is 10 $ but depends on your individual circumstances (whether you are a visitor which brings food and how much money the guards need from you after they lost while playing cards. The latter ist often the case and visitors therefore will be charged a second time while leaving. If you don't pay you have to leave right away.
PROSTITUTION
By day the Monivong Hospital resembles a Hospital, without the Doctors or the Patients.
At night, when it is clear of NGO's, things come to life.
First the police shop brings a case or two of Angkor Beer. Then the Police arrive with 3 Girls at a time (a motorbike load) for the VIP Patient to choose as an overnight companion. Some of these Girls look as young as 13. The Guards are paid for the "service", not the Girls. and then the ward doors are locked. The Toilets are outside the ward so beeing locked up for the next 12 hours with 5-6 patients, 48 cans of beer and up to 6 frightened young prostitutes you can imagine the mess that is taking place.
The ward is re-arranged, beds and "screens moved and sheets are hung from bars to offer a little privacy. A TV and VCD player blasts out Karaoke to mask the conjugal noises and the drinking starts.
As the Toilets are outside the locked doors and people downing cans of beer, men and girls urinate in empty 500ml water bottles.
The Äctivity"goes on all night. At frist light the ward is put back together, police guards take the prostitutes and some of the "real"Patients carry a large plastic bin full of bottles of urine outside.
By the time the first NGO arrives, the real patients are worn out, kept awake by karaoke and the VIP's look "spent"and exhausted.
Wife's turn up with food from about 9:00 or 10:00 and the guard get paid again.
For this reason the Monivong Hospital is called "The Brothpital"
Prisoner beaten and tortured to death Prey Sar
prey-sar-2.jpg
Prison guards allegedly torture an inmate to death in Phnom Penh
http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/AHRC-UAC-253-2008
The death of Heng Touch (24)
November 26, 2008
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-253-2008
26 November 2008
Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that prison guards allegedly tortured a young man at Prey Sar prison on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. As a result of this torture, Heng sustained a fractured skull and died in a hospital in Phnom Penh on 21 November 2008.
CASE DETAILS: (Source: Am Sam Ath, LICADHO, and Cheng Kaing, Heng Touch's uncle, Phnom Penh)
On 26 September 2008, Heng Touch, 24, living in Roluos village, Cheung Ek commune, Dangkor district, Phnom Penh, was arrested and remanded in custody in Prey Sar prison on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. On November 3, his mother, Ang Bak Kea, was allowed to visit him in the prison. He was in good health. He asked his mother to bring him some food stuffs the next time she came.
On November 13, immediately after being informed that he was ill, his mother and an older brother, Veng Sreang, visited him in prison. Heng was then mildly ill. The prison guards suggested that he be transferred to another room. They asked for USD 200 to effect this transfer, a sum which they lowered to USD 100. But when the mother and brother offered them USD 50, they refused.
On November 15, the mother was informed that Heng was now seriously ill. She went at once to see him. She noticed that his head was swollen, his face bruised and his tongue cut. He fainted and lost consciousness. The mother paid 30000 riels (USD 30) to prison officials to get them to send him to Monivong Hospital in Phnom Penh where seriously ill prisoners are normally sent for treatment.
At the hospital Heng came round and told his mother that five men had beaten him. He then fainted and loss consciousness again permanently. Later he started vomiting and his health continued to deteriorate. Arrangements were made to transfer him to Calmette Hospital where a scan revealed he had a fractured skull and damaged lungs. He died on 21 November 2008.
Independent witnesses noticed that Heng's head was bleeding, bruised and swollen; his body, legs and arms were also bruised; and his tongue was cut.
All these injuries have led witnesses and Heng's mother to believe that he was tortured while in prison. A member of his family alleged that prison guards had begun torturing him after they had failed to solicit a bribe from his mother and brother when they visited him on November 13.
However, Prey Sar Prison Director Mong Kim Heng has denied any torture committed by his guards. He said that Heng Touch was trying to kill himself by biting his tongue and hitting his head against the wall of the prison's infirmary.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
It is a widely known fact that corruption, torture and other forms of ill-treatment of inmates are still practiced in prisons in Cambodia (see AHRC-UAC-090-2008).
Cambodia is a party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and also to the Optional Protocol to this Convention. It has also incorporated the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners in its criminal law.
Under its articles 12 and 13, the Convention against torture calls for "a prompt and impartial investigation, wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committed" and "prompt and impartial" examination of cases filed against its perpetrator(s).
Heng Touch's mother filed a complaint about the torture used against her son.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write your letters to the authorities listed below to request them to conduct an investigation into Heng Touch's death, take action against officials responsible for this death, institute regular inspections of prisons, and set up an independent commission to regularly examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty.
Please be informed that the AHRC has also written a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture and the Special Representative for human rights in Cambodia and the OHCHR in Cambodia calling for intervention in this case.
To support this appeal, please click here:
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear ______,
CAMBODIA: Prison guards allegedly torture an inmate to death in Phnom Penh
Name of victim: Heng Touch, 24, living in Roluos village, Cheung Ek commune, Dangkor district, Phnom Penh
Name of alleged perpetrators: Prison guards, Prey Sar prison on the outskirts of Phnom Penh
I am writing to express my deep concern relating to the torture by prison guards of a 24-old man named Heng Touch at Prey Sar prison on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. This torture led to Heng's death on 21 November 2008.
On 26 September 2008, Heng Touch, 24, living in Roluos village, Cheung Ek commune, Dangkor district, Phnom Penh, was arrested and remanded in custody in Prey Sar prison. On 3 November his mother, Ang Bak Kea, was allowed to visit him in the prison. He was in good health and he asked his mother to bring some foodstuffs the next time she came to see him.
On November 13, immediately after they had been informed that he was ill, his mother and an older brother, Veng Sreang, went to see him in the prison. Heng was then mildly ill. The prison guards suggested that he be transferred to another room, asking for USD 200 to effect this transfer, a sum which they lowered to USD100. The mother and brother offered them USD50, which they refused.
On November 15, the mother was informed that Heng was now seriously ill. She went at once to the prison. She saw that her son?s head was swollen, his face bruised and his tongue cut. He fainted and lost consciousness. The mother paid 30000 riels (USD 30) to prison officials to get them to send him to Monivong Hospital in Phnom Penh where seriously ill prisoners are normally sent for treatment.
At the hospital Heng came round and told his mother that five men had beaten him. He then fainted and loss consciousness permanently. Later he started vomiting and his health continued to deteriorate. Arrangements were made to transfer him to Calmette Hospital where a scan revealed he had a fractured skull and damaged lungs. He died on 21 November 2008.
Freedom from torture is an absolute right. It is deplorable that torture has continued in Cambodia long after its people suffered so much violence in their recent past, under the Khmer Rouge regime.
The injuries that caused Heng Touch's death have given reasonable grounds to believe that acts of torture had been committed against him. I therefore strongly urge you to conduct a prompt and impartial investigation into this torture and take prompt action against the guards who have committed it.
I also strongly urge you to ensure that the Prosecutor General, prosecutors, investigating judges, and also officials of the Prison Department of the Ministry of Interior, conduct regular inspections of prisons as prescribed by the Cambodian Code of Criminal Procedure. This would make sure that the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners are effectively enforced and the fundamental rights of persons deprived of their liberty observed.
Finally, I request you to implement the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture to which Cambodia is already a party, and create an independent commission, as that protocol has prescribed, to make regular visits to all places of detention, including prisons, to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty.
I trust you will positively consider my above requests.
Yours sincerely,
-------
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Mr. Hun Sen
Prime Minister
Cabinet of the Prime Minister
No. 38, Russian Federation Street
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax: +855 23 36 0666
Tel: +855 2321 9898
E-mail: cabinet1b@camnet.com.kh
2. Mr. Sar Kheng
Deputy-Prime Minister
Minister of Interior
No.275 Norodom Blvd., Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax/phone: +855 23 721 905 / 23 726 052 / 23 721 190
E-Mail: info@interior.gov.kh
3. Mr. Henro Raken
Prosecutor-General
Court of Appeal
No 240, Sothearos Blvd.
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax: +855 23 21 66 22; +855 23 21 63 22
Tel: +855 11 86 27 70
4. Mr. Ang Vong Vathna
Minister of Justice
No 240, Sothearos Blvd.
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax: +855 23 36 4119 / 21 6622
E-mail: moj@cambodia.gov.kh
5. General Neth Savoeun
National Police Commissioner
General-Commisariat of National Police
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax: +855 23 22 09 52
Tel: +855 23 21 65 85
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)
unquote
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2013 update:
tpf-cambodia.com has learned that foreign prisoners are not exempt from beatings and torture by prison guards in Prey Sar Prison. We know of at least 2 western inmates that have been severly beaten by a prison guard. In order to ensure their safety the names have been withheld.