THE REAL BANGKOK HILTON Final Script – World-wide version 22nd July 2004 50’30” including credits (35’) and opening graphic (6’) 10.00.00 This World Theme Music 10.00.02 Title Page Thisworld 10.00.10 ASTON bangkwang maximum security prison bangkok, thailand 10.00.23 Andrew Hawke Let’s put it this way, a lot of people in here will never see free air again. 10.00.29 Ian Curtis The Thai people call Bangkwang the “Big Tiger”. They say it eats men alive. 10.00.37 Amporn Birtling [dubbed] I have no clue when I will die. They could inject me today or tomorrow. 10.00.45 Ian Curtis In the west it has been known as the “Bangkok Hilton”. 10.00.50 Michael Connell There is twenty-four in a room which is really hard. Especially when you need to go to the toilet because there are people all over the floor. 10.01.03 Ian Curtis The prison is notorious – it’s been the subject of novels and movies - but the Thai authorities have never allowed the reality of life inside these walls to be filmed. 10.01.16 Ian Curtis Until now. 10.01.25 TITLE PAGE the real bangkok hilton 10.01.35 Ian Curtis Bangkwang prison is at boiling point. In the last few years the prison’s population has trebled – because of a government crackdown on drug trafficking. 10.01.48 Ian Curtis 7,000 men are now packed into a prison built to hold around half that number. 10.01.54 Bunharn [subs] Ok we’re ready – get them up. 10.02.01 Guard [subs] Row three – stand up! 10.02.09 Ian Curtis There are serial killers and multiple rapists locked up here. But most prisoners are in for drug dealing offenses. In Thailand drug sentences are harsh -- minimum 25 years - to life - to the death penalty. 10.02.27 Ian Curtis The prison guards have arranged extra heavy security but they’re nervous. They are unarmed and outnumbered fifty-to-one. 10.02.38 Bunharn [SUBS] Guards, guards! Don’t let them get close to the prisoners! 10.02.40 Bunharn [SUBS] Don’t let them get in the room! 10.02.46 Bunharn [SUBS] The prisoners might lock them inside! 10.02.50 Bunharn [SUBS] Wouldn’t that be big news… 10.02.55 Bunharn [SUBS] A BBC crew taken hostage! 10.03.02 Ian Curtis With so few guards roll call is taken twice a day to make sure noone’s missing. 10.03.30 GUARD: [SUBS] We use our batons to check how the bars sound. 10.03.40 Ian Curtis If one bar has a different tone it means someone’s tried to file through it. 10.03.56 Ian Curtis 3:30 is lock down. The prisoners spend 15 hours a day in their cells. 10.04.09 Andrew Hawke You literally cannot lie flat on your back put your hands on your stomach if you do that your elbows are on two other beds. That is pretty damn close and that is 15 hours a day. 10.04.13 ASTON ANDREW prisoner no. 290/42 10.04.25 Ian Curtis In here - if one prisoner gets sick, so do all his cellmates. 10.04.34 Michael Connell I’d say the beds are about that big about 5 foot long and me feet are always sticking over the bed. You are always touching someone in the room. It’s really hard. 10.04.36 ASTON MICHAEL Prisoner no. 317/47 10.04.49 Ian Curtis The lights stay on 24 hours a day. Thai officials have said 63 percent have mental health problems and one in ten is suicidal. 10.05.00 Michael Connell There is a lot of people who are losing their minds. I am sleeping next to a guy now; he just walks around all day talking to himself.I’m in the room next to him at night, and I have seen a dog scratch less. Last night he was itching so much there must have been three different places bleeding from. And a week before he was bleeding again and he actually got blood on my bed. 10.05.30 Ian Curtis Many will die here and many more will be put to death. 10.05.40 Ian Curtis Just after the new Thai government came to power, these men had their executions in Bangkwang broadcast live on Thai television as a warning to drug pushers. 10.05.56 Ian Curtis In the street outside the prison there’s another warning. This sign shows 560 inmates face execution for drug offences. 10.06.07 Ian Curtis Amporn Birtling is one of them. His shackles are welded on permanently. He faces death by lethal injection. The execution order could come at any time. 10.06.24 Ian Curtis The Thai government says drug pushers have destroyed the future of many of the country’s young people and deserve to die. 10.06.41 Amporn Birtling [dubbed] All of my life I hated drugs more than anything. I never thought that I would be arrested because of them. I told my kids don’t touch them. Don’t get close to them. I hate them. I admitted that I was guilty. Why has society punished me so harshly? Why don’t they give me another chance? I never committed a crime before. 10.07.09 Ian Curtis The tough sentences are popular. 10.07.15 Ian Curtis The prison’s resident Buddhist monk – like the majority of Thai people – has little sympathy for drug traffickers. 10.07.24 Monk (dubbed) Drug dealing is a type of mass murder - it can destroy whole families. If a child becomes addicted to drugs, he drags down his whole family with him. The child starts to steal everything, which ruins the family’s reputation in society. A murderer typically kills only one person. Drug dealers don’t kill just one person - they ruin everyone’s lives. 10.07.56 Amporn Birtling [dubbed] My children try to cheer me up. They say to me it’s OK - don’t be sad father. If people can’t see the goodness of your heart, heaven can. 10.08.14 Ian Curtis Thailand is fighting a drug problem far worse than anything yet seen in the west. The country is a major through-route for drugs. 10.08.25 Ian Curtis Heroin and speed pills are manufactured in Burma. The drugs are then trafficked through Thailand to Europe and America, with much of the profit going to the Thai agents. 10.08.38 Ian Curtis But now Thailand has a major drug problem at home. 10.08.45 Ian Curtis Metaamphetamine pills – called yabba – now as cheap as a dollar a pill -- are flooding the local market. In recent years Yabaa has found its way into schools, child addicts in the streets have become a common sight. 10.09.07 Ian Curtis It’s called the “crazy drug”. The government’s said it is Thailand’s number one national security issue. 10.09.17 Amporn Birtling [dubbed] I had a job watching yabaa supplies. My employers paid all my daily expenses – and paid for my house as well. All I had to do is keep an eye on the pills. When we had a client my boss would call me and I would make the delivery. 10.09.44 Ian Curtis Two years ago Thai television broadcast details of cases of violence by people high on yabaa. This man threatened to drop his own son off a building. 10.10.06 Ian Curtis The Thai prime minister vowed to wipe out the country’s entire drug problem within just sixty days. 10.10.13 Ian Curtis Ten thousand people were arrested. More than 2000 alleged drug dealers were shot dead in the streets. The authorities said it was gang on gang killings – Human rights groups say it was the Thai police. 10.10.28 Amporn Birtling (dubbed) One day the police caught my partner and forced him to call me to deliver some pills to an undercover officer. I was arrested immediately. The police just decided to arrest any suspect they could find - that’s why prisons are overcrowded these days. They weren’t looking for the real criminals, otherwise they wouldn’t have even bothered with us. 10.11.01 Ian Curtis Caught in the crackdown were hundreds of foreigners. 20-year-old Michael Connell from Bury in Manchester says he smuggled drugs to fund his second holiday in Thailand. 10.11.15 Director So what were you arrested for, Michael? 10.11.26 Michael Connell I’m arrested for importing 3,400 ecstasy from England to Thailand and got I caught at the airport. 10.11.26 Michael Connell When they found them I knew what were going to happen to me. Because anywhere in the world if you get caught importing drugs you’re going to prison. So as soon as they found them I knew I were going to prison. 10.11.40 Ian Curtis Connell’s story is of the typical “tourist turns convict” variety. He was one of the hundreds of thousands of young Britons who visit Thailand every year - many of them young travelers easily tempted by the readily available cheap booze, drugs and sex. 10.12.00 Michael Connell I just came for a holiday for the first time and enjoyed it so much when I was leaving I were heart broken to go. The culture, the people are all dead friendly. And mainly the weather – in England sunshine don’t happen very often. 10.12.19 Ian Curtis Overwhelmed by what seemed an idyllic lifestyle, Connell, like many of these travelers, got a false sense of security. He visited Khao San Road - the backpacker’s ghetto in the centre of Bangkok where many plan their beach trips in Thailand. He went on to the beach resorts and the famous full moon parties where ecstasy is plentiful. 10.12.51 Michael Connell So I wanted to get back but it was expensive to come over, I had to find the way to make money. 10.12.58 Ian Curtis Connell didn’t want to say where he got the money to buy the drugs. In November 2003, he arrived at Bangkok's international airport for his second vacation in the land of smiles. Customs officials found the ecstasy tablets in his travel bag after they were detected by an X-ray scan. 10.13.22 Michael Connell I went to collect me bag and for some reason it was already off the rail going around so I just picked it up, walked through customs, then they said stop can I search your bag. So they just put my bag through the X-ray machine, opened the bag, put their hand in, just pulled them out. 10.13.51 Michael Connell When I got arrested there was a big sign in the customs office, from which that scared me a lot. 10.14.02 Michael Connell I just sat there looking at it and just praying that I don’t get the death penalty. 10.14.09 Ian Curtis The pills, with a street value of 50,000 pounds, were wrapped in plastic and hidden in two facecream jars. Michael escaped the death penalty by pleading guilty, but was sentenced to 99 years in prison. 10.14.25 Michael Connell “Family, I love you all. Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I’m more worried about yourselves”. 10.14.41 Michael Connell Anything can happen to you in the time you been here. The biggest fear is not knowing when I am getting out, that is the biggest fear that I’ve got. 10.14.58 Ian Curtis Connell has been put in building five, which is reserved for young and dangerous prisoners. 10.15.07 Ian Curtis Bunharn Cholsin - a prison director – leads the visit into Connell’s cellblock. 10.15.14 ASTON BUNHARN CHOLSIN Director of Prisoner Welfare. 10.15.17 Ian Curtis Twenty guards gather for extra security. But there is tension in the air. 10.15.23 Bunharn [subs] Don’t be afraid. Warden Chaweng is a very good kickboxer. 10.15.33 Bunharn [English] Uh, open the door building five. 10.15.38 Guard [subs] I am Narit Witsaket, Prison Officer 3. The situation is normal. 10.15.54 Bunharn [subs] These two doors can’t be opened at the same time. First we all have to get inside here. 10.16.11 Bunharn [dubbed] Compound five contains about thousand prisoners but there are only thirteen or fourteen guards on duty. So if the prisoners wanted to try something, there’d be nothing we could do about it. If the prisoners wanted to knock the guards out, we couldn’t do anything. 10.16.33 Ian Curtis Warden Bunharn is concerned about the safety of the female Thai interpreter. 10.16.37 Bunharn [subs] Don’t worry. Just stay calm. Don’t panic whatever you do. The prisoners have never seen a woman come in here before. 10.16.57 Ian Curtis Normally hundreds of prisoners mill about this open space. But now they are herded against the walls. Before this visit the guards had raided the block, seizing any personal possessions regarded as against the rules - like mobile phones and drugs. They’re not happy. 10.17.18 Ian Curtis The prison bosses have a system of prisoner guards – called ‘trusties’. The prisoners call them blueshirts and blueboys. They have the power to search - and to discipline - the other prisoners. 10.16.36 Michael Connell [VO] It’s difficult to be foreigner here, because in the building I’m in I’m the only white guy in the building so I stand out a lot. 10.17.50 Michael Connell I do get looks off a lot of people but I’ve got to ignore them all the time and carry on what I’m doing. 10.17.56 Michael Connell Are you all right? I weren’t expecting ya. 10.18.02 Director So this is where you hang out day? 10.18.04 Michael Connell That is where I hang out, yah. One place where it’s quiet. 10.18.10 Ian Curtis As a new inmate Connell must wear leg shackles for the first three months. 10.18.15 Michael Connell Well I really can’t play football at the moment since I got the chains around me legs. But I’ve got another month with them on. They hopefully they should be off in a month, then I can play football. 10.18.27 Ian Curtis Life in Bangkwang largely depends on how much money a prisoner has. Poor inmates work for the guards or for other prisoners to survive. 10.18.37 Michael Connell A lot of people here haven’t got any money. So you got to basically help the ones who haven’t got the money so he does me washing and then I give him food and stuff like that cigarettes. 10.18.49 Ian Curtis Each inmate has a bank account in the prison. They can buy food and toiletries from the prison shop using a coupon system. Michael also gets food and vitamins from the British embassy. 10.19.00 Michael Connell You buy your food everyday. So you just buy it. Sometimes you can do cooking, plus the embassy comes every six weeks they come and they bring me like, stuff like fresh bacon, ham, cheese. 10.19.14 Michael Connell It’s not the embassy that gives us the money every month it’s the charity called Prisoners Abroad who gives us 2000 baht every month. Which is actually a really big help because my family ain’t got that much money to help me with. 10.19.24 Ian Curtis The guards have had enough. It’s time to leave Connell’s cellblock. 10.19.42 Ian Curtis Bunharn’s tour continues with a visit to the maximum- security building. He travels there in the prison transport vehicle - a golf cart. 10.19.55 Bunharn [subs] We use this golf cart sometimes to transport death row inmates to the execution chamber. 10.20.15 Ian Curtis The inmates call it “the Jungle”. 10.20.22 Ian Curtis It’s solitary confinement, Bangkwang style. 10.20.34 Michael Connell I have heard about solitary that you are in there every four days and you get out one day. There’s not a toilet in there’s just a little bucket in the room. Just a little bucket no water to shower with. One guy said that you are lucky if you can lie down on your back flat. I plan not to go up there. 10.21.01 Solitary Guard This is an example of a stubborn prisoner who lacks discipline. That’s why he’s isolated from others. This is a fair punishment - he stabbed another inmate at least 10 times and when the guard tried to stop the fight, he was attacked as well and got 10 stitches. We forgive him – we will try our best to rehabilitate him. Other people always imagine that we are tough, but in reality we are not. 10.21.44 Solitary Inmate My case is attempted murder. I’m sentenced to death, but I’m innocent. 10.21.57 Ian Curtis A large percentage of the inmates in solitary are from Nigeria – a country that has some the world’s most organised drug courier gangs. 10.22.07 Darren Conway Why are you in solitary? 10.22.10 Nigerian Inmate 1 They tell me I fought… I had a problem with another prisoner. 10.22.15 Darren Conway How long have you been in solitary for? 10.22.19 Nigerian Inmate 1 Three months. 10.22.20 Darren Conway Do you get out during the day? 10.22.26 Nigerian Inmate 1 Yeah - twice in a week. Just for one hour. 10.22.32 Ian Curtis Nigerian drug couriers take delivery of heroin in Bangkok and send it home to their capital of Lagos. With Nigeria’s rampant corruption, getting the drugs through Lagos international airport does not pose much of a problem. In Nigeria, the drugs are repacked into smaller parcels, often into condoms that couriers swallow and take to Europe and America. 10.22.57 Darren Conway What are you convicted for? 10.23.00 Nigerian Inmate 1 Drugs. 10.23.06 Bunharn [dubbed] Nigerian prisoners are problematic. They try to sell drugs, though they don’t take them. I’ve talked to them and understand that their country is poor. They need money to support their families. 10.23.09 ASTON BUNHARN CHOLSIN Director of Prisoner Welfare 10.23.20 Darren Conway What are you in here for mate? Nigerian Inmate 2 [subs] I had a problem with my building chief. He said I used heroin. 10.23.30 Ian Curtis Many Africans don’t have embassy support unlike American and European prisoners. They have little or no legal help. 10.23.39 Darren Conway How many years do you have to serve? 10.23.44 Nigerian Inmate 2 I’m now on a life sentence. 10.23.47 Darren Conway What’s it like in here? 10.23.48 Nigerian Inmate 2 Well, We provide for ourselves We don’t have enough food. So we have to survive on our own. 10.23.59 Ian Curtis In the past Nigerians outside have smuggled drugs and mobile phones into the prison, often hidden within food. In this way the Nigerian inmates could deal drugs and earn money. 10.24.12 Bunharn [dubbed] They try to hide drugs in all kind of places. We usually catch them. Sometimes they hide it in cosmetics. They have their tricks. In the food. Sometimes they swallow it and then excrete it into the toilet. We don’t have electronic devices to detect that. When we catch them, they are punished, they are tried. 10.24.41 Director Do you miss your family? 10.24.43 Nigerian Inmate 2 I miss my children. I have five children. 10.24.50 Darren Conway Would you like to go home? 10.24.52 Nigerian Inmate 1 Exactly! Exactly. 10.25.02 Director Does anyone come and visit you Gary? Nigerian Inmate 2 Only missionaries. Once in a while. Once in a while. 10.25.36 Ian Curtis Another western prisoner who agreed to be interviewed was 47 year-old Andrew Hawke from London. 10.25.44 Andrew Hawke Death row. They got their chains welded on. 10.25.53 Andrew Hawke That’s my home for the last five and a half years. 10.26.01 Frank Smith And home for how much longer? 10.26.03 Andrew Hawke Nobody in place can say with any degree of certainty when they are leaving. Nobody at all. 10.26.12 Ian Curtis Permission for filming is denied inside Hawke’s compound – the last visit inside Connell’s proved too dangerous and disruptive. 10.26.24 Ian Curtis But they do allow a camera to be given to a guard who agrees to film Andrew’s daily routine – but under the supervision of a senior prison official. 10.26.38 Andrew Hawke Well, I’m going up to show you where I sleep. 10.26.45 Director What were you arrested for? 10.26.46 Andrew Hawke Stupidity. It was 800 odd grams apparently. Airport. 10.26.57 Director What led you to the decision to try to do this? 10.27.00 Andrew Hawke Desperation. Financial and personal. I was homeless at the time – just been made that. The personal stuff I don’t really want to go into. 10.27.22 Andrew Hawke Most of the time, I end up asleep. 15 hours a day in this room. Every day. That’s a lot of hours. 10.27.37 Ian Curtis Hawke made his decision to smuggle heroin after an offer in a pub in Amsterdam. 10.27.44 Andrew Hawke I really didn’t want to do it, everything screamed against me not to do it. But I went ahead and did it anyway. 10.27.53 Andrew Hawke I was just… pouring out my sorrows and woes, and basically talking with strangers like you don’t talk to anybody else. Let’s just say I was suicidally depressed. 10.28.15 Andrew Hawke To be honest I was thinking about taking the late night ferry and jumping off it. I was at the end of the rope, frankly…. slowly getting drunk and somebody whispered over my shoulder ‘I know a way you can make some money to get you out of your financial problems.’ What? He said ‘you can you can fly over and do a job for me over in Thailand.’ Give you some money be a tourist for a couple of weeks and fly back. I said okay. That must have been about 3 or 4 in the morning. By half past two the next afternoon hungover and pretty drunk, got taken to the airport and put on a plane. I was here. And once I was here I was pretty much committed because I didn’t have a return ticket or enough money to buy one for that matter. 10.29.20 Andrew Hawke I was arrested right before I entered the aircraft. It was a metal detector thingy you’ve gotta to walk through. God knows what triggered it off. I just remember my heart going like a trip hammer and was waiting… I waited for at least a half an hour before the customs guy showed up. And they checked the stuff and one of the customs guy said that maybe it’s milk powder and I just looked at him and said yeah I bloody well hope so. But it wasn’t. 10.29.54 Andrew Hawke Arrived here April fools day. Very funny. 10.30.00 Ian Curtis Hawke was sentenced to death, cut to 50 years when he pleaded guilty. 10.30.06 Andrew Hawke I deserve to be punished I certainly do. But the punishment is so severe. 10.30.18 Andrew Hawke This is my friend Adrian. The reason he’s lying down is that he’s too tall to stand up. So Adrian, what does it feel like to be on TV again? Say hello to your friends at home Adrian. 10.30.36 Adrian Hello. Welcome to Bangkwang people. 10.30.41 Andrew Hawke Are you pleading guilty or not guilty? 10.30.42 Adrian Not guilty. 10.30.44 Andrew Hawke You see yet another man in the system who is not guilty. 10.30.47 Adrian You! 10.30.48 Andrew Hawke I pled guilty from the start my friend. I was caught red- handed. 10.30.56 Ian Curtis Hawke is ordered to show off the new gas cooking area for the guard’s camera 10.31.01 Andrew Hawke This is the area where all the cooking facilities are. Gas bottles all behind. As you can see there’s only six rings. So a lot of people use charcoal instead. But the the gas here is provided. Just off shot are about 400 people showering which you cannot be shown under the laws of obscenity in Thailand so we will now move on. OK, enough. 10.31.39 Andrew Hawke This is my friend he’s the librarian. He looks after all the books. 10.31.42 Librarian Librarian! 10.31.43 Andrew Hawke Most of these books were put here either by me or Adrian. 10.31.48 Andrew Hawke About Ned Kelly and his life and times short as they were. 10.32.01 African Inmate [subs] Yeah, I’m just reading “How to live in Thailand”. 10.32.04 Andrew Hawke You found out how to live in Thailand my friend. Too late you found out. OK that’s enough 10.32.15 Andrew Hawke I think that it is my anger at the British government that’s halfway responsible for me holding on to my sanity. The number of letters that I have written to various government departments of the foreign office home office and the sheer gall of the replies keeps me going. 10.32.37 Ian Curtis Heroin smuggler Hawke is desperate to leave. He is subject to the rules of British prisoner transfer agreements. If he returns to the UK, he must serve half the sentence he received abroad. Other countries are far more lenient. 10.32.51 Andrew Hawke Even if I went back and did the half that the British government insists that I do, I’d be nearly 67. I was a Dane or a German I’d have 4 and a half years left. 10.33.06 Michael Connell These American prisoners they get transferred back home after 8 years. Then they do 2-3 months in prison in America and then get released. So a lot of people are really upset about this. 10.33.22 Andrew Hawke Well the Americans go their own way, no one can stop the Americans but we should at least get the same treatment as the rest of the Europeans do and none of them do more than 10 years so why the hell should we? 10.33.37 Ian Curtis In the last few years Bangkwang prison has become part of the tourist trail in Thailand. Notices in guest houses encourage tourists to visit inmates. The prisoners call them ‘banana visits’ - because it makes them feel like monkeys in a cage. 10.34.01 Ian Curtis Prisoners on drugs offenses are allowed one visit a week, while all other inmates, including murderers, get two. 10.34.13 Ian Curtis The prisoners sit behind a wire mesh, and the visitors at the other side of a second wire mesh, about ten feet apart. For each pair it is like trying to conduct a conversation across a busy road. 10.34.26 Dutch Tourist Two years ago we were just curious to visit somebody in a prison and we met a boy from Malaysia and we felt so sorry for him but we know he’s innocent – he’s really innocent but he has life time. I think it’s too bad. 10.34.47 Malaysian prisoner [subs] My wife she stays in Penang. So when you arrive at penang airport… 10.34.52 Dutch Tourist With her parents, she stays with her parents. 10.34.54 Malaysian prisoner Yeah, she stays with her parents. 10.34.56 Dutch Tourist When they’re guilty, ok, but not life, not life - that’s too long. Don’t you think? 10.35.04 Michael Connell Yeah I get visits from tourists sometimes who go to the British embassy and want to visit a British prisoner. Sometimes people come over from England who see me on the news and all that. From Manchester. 10.35.21 Ian Curtis Adrian gets a visit from a fellow Canadian who read about him on the internet. 10.35.27 Adrian Welcome to the Bangkok Hilton! 10.35.28 Canadian tourist Thank you. 10.35.30 Adrian We’re lucky we’re Canadian. Canada has an exchange treaty. Because we have life sentences we have to do 8 years in a Thai prison then we can transfer back to Canada. 10.35.42 Canadian tourist I just wanted to see if there’s anything you need I’m going to the store after… 10.35.45 Adrian Well, besides my freedom - not that much! 10.35.50 Andrew Hawke A friend that I knew before just appeared out of the blue one day. That one, I was taken aback. Sarah, you know who are. 10.36.09 Ghanain prisoner [subs] A lot of people go crazy you know. A lot of people inside they are mad! 10.36.16 Pierre They make my day in fact. You know I come here – it’s food for thought. And… they make my day. 10.36.23 Pierre He’s a nice guy, he just make a mistake and that’s all you know. 10.38.26 Pierre That makes me thinking about how we are living in paradise of the west you know, compared to here. He told me he got 50 years. Could you imagine? He is 40 – a little bit over 40. He’s going to be here for the rest of his life. 10.36.46 Afghan prisoner I’ve stayed here ten years. I never fight my case. 10.36.55 Ian Curtis One of the prisoners is from Afghanistan. 10.36.58 Director No Afghan embassy. Of course. 10.36.59 Afghan prisoner Yeah, because as you know everything is problem in Afghanistan. And I contact other embassies from other places, not reply back. 10.37.09 Director I see. So there’s nobody helping you on the outside? 10.37.11 Afghan prisoner Nobody help me. Nobody help me. Sometimes, I’m sorry, when you go to the toilet at night, come back you don’t have a space to sleep. And food, is not enough at all. And everything you should buy yourself! 10.37.28 Michael Connell Some guy came I’d say about three weeks ago, he were telling me that he’s been around Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao, Burma. And when he were telling me I was just thinking great… I’m in prison. 10.38.13 Michael Connell I’m sleeping next to a guy who has not washed his bed now for two months and I’ve told him to wash his bed and he don’t wash it and I’m sure I’m getting mites off his bed or something like that. I’ve asked him to wash his bed but he’s… he’s not all there. So he’s just walked off and he’s still not washed his bed yet. 10.38.41 Andrew Hawke Avoid any open wounds of any kind. With the water here you have to – that’s unfiltered river water that we have to wash in. Try and not get sick. The worst thing that you can do is get ill. 10.38.59 Ian Curtis Seriously ill inmates end up in the prison hospital, which is understaffed and understocked. 10.39.07 Ian Curtis Tuberculosis and HIV are rife. But the patients remain prisoners. 10.39.25 Ian Curtis Many prisoners have developed the full-blown AIDS virus. 10.39.37 Pete It happened because they used the same needles when they are shooting dope. And sexual … you know. 10.39.42 ASTON “PETE” Veteran Prisoner 10.39.57 Ian Curtis Hospitals in Thailand are partly supported by donations – but not this one. 10.40.03 Doctor [subs] Most Thai people think these prisoners deserve their suffering. So they don’t donate to our hospital. But in medical care, we have to treat all patients equally regardless of religion or class. 10.40.19 Pete Last year I was sick in the hospital for 23 days. I saw people by the bed by my side dying, dying every day. I am here I can see the ambulance come and pick up the casket, dead body. I see them all. 10.40.51 Director What do you have there? 10.40.53 Michael Connell It’s a Manchester United top; I’m a really big fan of Manchester United. Even David Beckham couldn’t come over and get me out if he wanted to. 10.41.06 Gate guard [subs] Michael what do you have there? 10.41.13 Michael Connell Man U. Man U. 10.41.14 Gate guard [subs] Your team Man U uh? 10.41.22 Ian Curtis In Bangkwang there is a cross section of Thai society -- - it’s a society which is very tolerant of transvestites and those who’ve had sex changes. The cameraman- guard is sent to film some ladyboys as they are known here. 10.41.47 Ladyboy [subs] These are my girlfriends who live in the same compound. 10.41.52 Ladyboy [subs] On weekends we get together here to gossip. 10.41.57 Ian Curtis These ladyboys live together in compound 4. 10.42.07 Ian Curtis Nong is 34 and was a showgirl at the resort of Pattaya. She says she smuggled drugs to pay for breast implants. 10.42.17 Nong I wanted to get my breasts done but my parents refused to give me money to do it. So I made a decision. My friends convinced me to do it, I had no idea back then what I was doing, I just kept delivering bags for them. I had no clue. I spent the money on the breast operation, and three days after the operation I was arrested. 10.42.56 Nong So far, I can’t find someone that I like. The man I like was transferred, but in this building there are 1000 men! 10.43.05 Nong I got a 40 years sentence. I have already been here for 10 years so I have to stay for another 30 years. But they told me I might get pardon this year, so they’ve asked me to behave. 10.43.23 Ian Curtis Occasionally Thailand’s King grants a royal pardon -- it is Nong’s only hope of getting out, and having a sex change operation. 10.43.33 Ian Curtis During the day Nong works as a makeup artist at the newly launched BKP TV – the world’s only prison cable TV station. 10.43.52 Ian Curtis The station is run by prisoners with prior experience. The anchor, a former radio announcer, has a life sentence for drug smuggling. 10.44.02 Announcer I’m the host and anchor of BKP Cable TV in Bang Kwang Prison. I’m beginning my sixth year behind bars on a drug offense. The station started off a collaboration of prisoners under the supervision of the guards. We got a great response from our audience – our fellow inmates. 10.44.36 Ian Curtis Last year the prison bosses installed televisions in the cells. 10.44.44 Announcer Dear viewers, BKP TV broadcasts beautiful and romantic music videos for you Monday to Friday. 10.45.02 Ian Curtis Prisoners can now enjoy Thai music videos, the latest movies and they’ve even had episodes of Mr. Bean to calm the prisoners down. 10.45.29 Ian Curtis Drug dealer Amporn Birtling is still waiting for his appointment at the lethal injection chamber. Both he and the executioner will get only two hours notice before the execution. 10.45.44 Amporn Birtling [dubbed] Frankly, I’m afraid to die, but I was also afraid of starving. I did it because I had nothing to eat, I didn’t have any money. I couldn’t get a job. 10.46.00 Ian Curtis Warden Bunharn sees the need for capital punishment, but only after all legal means of appeal have been exhausted. 10.46.11 Bunharn [dubbed] Children can see that we execute criminals, and as a result they’ll be afraid of committing crimes. 10.46.20 Bunharn [dubbed] Here in Thailand, we don’t take execution lightly. The cases have to go to the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court, and then to the King before an execution is approved. We’re not a cruel country. At Bangkwang we have only executed a total 300 prisoners, not thousands. 10.46.38 Ian Curtis Opponents of the death penalty say that is not a deterrent – and that innocent men always end up being executed. 10.46.47 Pete There’s only one man, a young man. He was accused of rape and killing a little girl. A six year old girl. This man I know him. I have been in prison with him. I talk to him, did you do it? No, he swear. Even though he was going to die he swear, he did not do it. On the way to the execution he shout - I did not do it, why kill me. Why? 10.47.16 Amporn Birtling [dubbed] Yes, we should have a second chance. People aren’t all bad. Some prisoners here are innocent. 10.47.36 Executioner [dubbed] When I hear I have to do an execution, I go back home, I wash and meditate to clear my thoughts. Then I leave for the prison at four in the afternoon. 10.47.56 Ian Curtis This is the head executioner of Bangkwang. He has agreed to demonstrate his routine on an execution day. But he will remain nameless and faceless for security reasons. 10.48.14 Executioner [dubbed] On my first execution, I worried whether I would be able to go through with it. Whether I could carry on until it was done properly. But I didn’t think too much, and I wasn’t scared or emotional after I did it. 10.48.38 Amporn Birtling [dubbed] I try not to think too much. We have to think that we are paying for our sins. That’s why we are suffering like this. 10.48.57 Executioner [dubbed] The first thing I do is go to the prison shrine and ask for blessings. 10.49.07 Ian Curtis He passes a life-sized concrete giraffe that graces the landscaping around the execution chamber. 10.49.16 Executioner [dubbed] The giraffe is just to liven up the place. 10.49.33 Executioner [dubbed] When I pay my respects I pick up a little bit of earth, put it on my head. Because everbody comes from the earth, in the end we go back to the earth. We should ask Mother Earth to protect us from all danger. 10.49.52 Ian Curtis On a real execution day the condemned prisoner will meet with the head monk of Lap Lae temple, which is just on the other side of the wall from the execution chamber. He has given the last rites to every prisoner executed at Bangkwang during the last 17 years. 10.50.16 Monk [dubbed] Thailand is a Buddhist country so people are always questioning why executions are allowed here. Yes killing is sinful but Buddhism teaches us to look at the intention behind the act. The intention here is to protect the country, so it is permitted. 10.50.40 Monk [dubbed] Since the Sukhothai dynasty, the King has gone out to fight wars. He and his troops have had to kill enemies to protect the country - execution is the same. 10.50.59 Ian Curtis The monk tells the condemned they’re lucky to die by execution because they can prepare their minds properly for death. 10.51.11 Monk [dubbed] Giving last rites to a prisoner is not easy but I have gotten used to it. I tell him that he is lucky that he knows his destiny and able to clear his conscience. Unlike me, if a car hits me right after this, I might not have a chance die with a pure mind. But he can prepare himself, listen to the monks, clear his mind and talk to people. It’s a blessing in disguise. 10.51.51 Ian Curtis Until 2003, the executioners put the condemned to death by machine gun. They shot them in the heart from behind -- so the departing spirit could not see the face of the killer --- and come back to haunt him. 10.52.10 Ian Curtis Blood splatters are still visible on the wall. 10.52.16 Ian Curtis The last person to die by firing squad was executed on Dec 12 last year. Director-General Nattee then decided to change the system to lethal injection. 10.52.30 Nathee Chitsawang Because it’s more humane. Because when we used the firing squad, the old method, sometimes they are crying and shouting and sometime when we shoot and they get down their blood is spreading, and sometimes they do not die immediately so we have to take them and shoot again. So, by new method it will be more humane; and it will not damage their body. 10.52.31 ASTON NATHEE CHITSAWANG Director-General, Department of Corrections 10.53.15 Executioner [dubbed] I come here to prepare the injections. 10.53.20 Executioner [dubbed] The first dose is a tranquilizer. 10.53.23 Executioner [dubbed] When we push switch number one, it shows that were doing step one to the people outside. 10.53.34 Executioner [dubbed] By the time the first injection is done, he’ll already be unconscious. 10.53.40 Executioner [dubbed] When the first injection is done, I push number 2 -the muscle relaxant. Then we go on to the third and lethal dose. 10.53.49 Executioner [dubbed] When all lights are on here and outside, the observers know that we have injected all three doses. 10.54.03 Amporn Birtling [dubbed] I have no clue when I will die. They could inject me today or tomorrow. I have to try not to dwell on it too much. I tell myself that we live one life and we die only once. If you are picked for execution tomorrow it’s your bad karma. 10.54.23 Executioner [dubbed] After the prisoner has died, we put the corpse down here. We get the fingerprint of the corpse to check if he’s the same person as the one we had before we executed. We get fingerprints both before and after the execution. After we are done with the prints, we put the body in the coffin and keep it in this room. Right here. Here we have cool air to preserve the body. If we have 4 bodies, we’ll stack them here. 10.54.53 Executioner [dubbed] We bring the body outside and check again if it’s the same person. We don’t want to give the wrong body to the relatives by mistake. After that, we put the body back in the coffin and walk this way. 10.55.10 Executioner [dubbed] Finally, they go out that door. 10.55.16 Ian Curtis This small red door is how prisoners on death row leave the Big Tiger. They call it the ‘ghost gate’. 10.55.25 Ian Curtis The gate only opens the day after an execution. Prisoners carry the coffin out into the temple grounds. If relatives are waiting, they claim the body. If not the body is left in the temple cemetery. When there’s no space left, the monk will cremate the bodies. 10.55.46 Ian Curtis He now guards the urns of the unclaimed. 10.55.52 Monk [dubbed] I still have them and have labeled their names. This was Mr Somsak Pornnarai, and Mr Deja Suwannasuk – he raped his stepdaughter. This was Mr Tapoi Ho, a Karen tribesman. 10.56.16 Monk [dubbed] I pray for them from time to time. 10.56.22 Monk [dubbed] I have to take a look at their names. I saw all of them prior to their death so I can recall some of them. 10.56.34 Monk [dubbed] I’ve always believed that people will face the consequences of their actions. Even if you don’t get caught, eventually your karma will catch up to you. 10.56.56 Ian Curtis It’s July 2004. 10.57.01 Ian Curtis Amporn Birtling still awaits his fate on death row. 10.57.09 Amporn Birtling [dubbed] I pray for another chance. I pray that I might live a new life even it means starting again from zero. 10.57.20 Ian Curtis Director-General Natthee is building new prisons to ease the overcrowding problem at Bangkwang. 10.57.30 Ian Curtis Heroin smuggler Andrew Hawke still clings to the slim hope of a pardon from the king, or a sympathetic ear from Her Majesty’s government. 10.57.40 Andrew Hawke The life sentences never get out. The sentences such as mine of 50 years, I would have to be 91 before I got out. Impossible. 10.57.57 Ian Curtis Ecstasy smuggler Michael Connell has served six months of his 99-year sentence. 10.58.04 Michael Connell What I am very worried about - people forgetting me. I’m lucky at the moment because I have a few people writing to me but I got a feeling that it is going to die down after a bit. I am hoping that it doesn’t. CREDITS BBC2 THIS WORLD – THE REAL BANGKOK HILTON 1