The conditions in the Central Jail in Phnom Penh have long been an issue for Human Right Groups and Families of those incarcerated.
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.
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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...
Even the Press is now concerned:
See picutres, below for the idea:
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A recent Newspaper report claimed that in Prison nothing is for free, supporting the above claim.
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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.
Don't count on your Embassy, they usually don't feel resonsable for their citizens, abroad. see David Makhout's email exchange:The email Files --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A 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 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.
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)
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2. Donald Rene Ramirez (USA)
commited suicide after arrest in Phnom Penh
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3. Abrihim Escori (Swedish) (August 2011)
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