WHITE HORSE

From where I came, nobody knows

From far off land where the poppy grows

I came to this country without being caught

From that day on I’ve been hunted and sought

Whole nations have gathered to plot my bloom and destruction

For potent than whisky, more deadly than wine

Yes, I am a killer known to all of mankind

My little white grains are nothing but waste

I’m soft and I’m fluffy and bitter to taste

I’m white and I’m brown and I’m deadly to use

For once your addicted, I will greatly abuse

I’m known in China, Iraq, Afghanistan

I’m welcome in Turkey and I’ve been to Japan

In cellophane bags, I’ve travelled my way

To men in high office and children at play

From the richest estates to the poorest of slums

From Heads of State to the lowest of bums

I can take a rich man make him poor

A pretty young maiden and make her a whore

I’m the kiss of death to all that I touch

I start as a gift, but remain as a crutch

The gift is illusion, the blessing is fake

For death and destruction follow in my wake

I can force you to steal, borrow and beg

Then search for a vein in your arm or your leg

Once in your bloodstream you’ll think me not mean

You’ll praise me as master, then nod in a dream

You can run from me quickly I’ll never give chase

For sooner or later, you’ll crave for a taste

So I’ll give you fair warning, though you’ll never take heed

You’ll still try to ride this deadly white steed

So, put your feet in the stirrups and hold on real well

I am the white horse that will take you to hell

MISS HEROIN

So little man, you’ve grown tired of grass

All that damned acid, that cocaine and hash

And someone pretending that he is your friend

Says I’ll introduce you to Miss Heroin

Well honey, before you start fooling with me

Just let me tell you on how it will be

For I will seduce you and make you my slave

Believe me, I’ve sent stronger men to their graves

You think you could never become a disgrace

Then end up addicted to poppy seed waste

You’ll start experimenting one afternoon

And end up asleep in my arms very soon

Then once I’ve entered deep into your veins

The cravings will drive you almost insane

You’ll need lots of money as you’ve been told

For darling. I’m more expensive than gold

You’ll swindle your family just for a buck

And turn into someone who’s vile and corrupt

You’ll mug and steal for the narcotic charms

Then feel so content when I’m in your arms

Then you’ll realize the monster within you has grown

And you’ll solemnly swear to leave me alone

But if you think it’s easy and that you have the knack

Then sweetie, just try getting me off your back

The vomit. The cramps, your gut in a knot

The tingling nerves screaming for just on more shot

The hot chills, the cold sweats, the withdrawal pains

Can only be saved by my little white grains

So now you return, “Just as I foretold”

And I know that you’ll give me your body and soul

You’ll give me your morals, your conscience, your heart

And now you are mine….till death do us part….

 

Letters from Inside

 

The so called human rights in the Hilton

 

“Let me explain how, in the absence of human rights, this letter (as with any letter going out of a Thai prison) got to you. Any letter over two sides of a single sheet of paper, and more than 15 lines per side is verboten! Therefore I have to ‘Bling’ a ‘Commando’. Commando being an appropriate title we are encouraged to call the screws. Having cleared that hurdle I must clear the censors, and hope that the stamps aren’t steamed off. Ideally the letter will get to a friend within Thailand; who will then scan this letter and e-mail to England. Any letter with more than 30 baht in stamps on is likely to have the stamps stolen by the postal workers.

 

British inmates in Thai prisons are fed once per day: an alleged 800gms (really 500gms) of waterlogged cold rice, and fish head soup. We are granted the human right to either buy additional food from the screws or starve to death. (Thais are fed 4-5 times per day). For the 150 odd British passport holders in Thai jails nationwide, our human rights extend to the ability to buy river water from a screw. Plus we have to pay to have that same water double boiled to prevent dysentery and cholera. Here in Thai prisons we can’t enjoy a quiet night in watching the box, writing letters or smelling the roses! With 21 people in my cell (6x4 metres) we have less than 1 square metre of free, personal space. The EEC rules dictate that each inmate have 7.5 square metres of ground space.

 

3rd world countries, where most of Britain’s 2500+outsources are contained, have vicious sentence plans; mainly for political reasons. In Thailand the average sentence length is 25 years (all offence categories). British consular officials assure the Thai officials that they guarantee, since 2001, that UK residents in Thai jails will serve a minimum of 25 years custodial. But don’t believe me. Ask recent repatriate Lee Williams (2004) or Sandra Gregory of the Novel: Forget you had a daughter.

 

Now let’s compare the human rights of how an inmate in a British nick ends up doing a couple of years. The same government that is seeing that inmates in British jails are given their human rights is running experiments in 3rd world countries, such as Thailand, to see just which liberty they can take from you next.

 

• Bounties for non Thais are paid to the Thai police on arrest (only) in narcotics cases.

• Prisoners spend an average of 2 to 5 years on remand. During which time they are subjected to hellish conditions.

• No one who has reported on their time in police custody or remand has failed to mention the use of torture to secure a confession.

• Males on remand, and 3 months after sentence is passed, for drug cases are kept permanently in leg irons weighing from 3kg to 15kg. All those sentenced to death are shackled until execution.

• Baroness Symons of Vernham Green (labour) issued instructions to consular staff in Bangkok that embassy staff were “never, ever to question the tactics and methodologies of the royal Thai police in securing a conviction. For to do so would jeopardise cooperation between the Thai and HMG customs and excise on the interdiction of drugs into Britain”.

• This ill-conceived edict has allowed the Thai police their human right to steal millions of dollars by stitching up hundreds of British passport holders.

• Because of the UK’s FCO on suppressing British passport holders’ human rights, granted to all visitors to Thailand by the Thai constitution, police state style human rights are enjoyed by a corrupt and evil administration instead. So much so, that with over 150 Britons rotting in Thai jails, the UK has more nationals incarcerated than the combined total of all other western nations.

 

As for the screws in Thai jails, any inmate showing disrespect to a ‘Pookum Chang’ can be summarily executed. This point was demonstrated on September 20th when two Thai inmates were ‘executed’ for complaining that during the military takeover all forms of ‘news’ were to be stopped in prisons.

But generally things are only infrequently as abrupt. No more than 1% of inmates are beaten by screws each year. For those not needing remedial math, the inmate population of ‘die land’ is only 350,000. The Thai department of corruptions, sorry corrections, feels that 350 deaths per annum from officers insisting upon the correct degree of abasement will not cause international human rights activists to protest unduly.

Prison rules state that all inmates must show deference to the screws. This is interpreted that when in the presence of a Pookum Chang the inmate must have his head lower than the screws and bowed. Given the height disparity between foreigners and Thais, screws are within their rights to make the farang stand in the nearest open sewer which ring all parts of the prison, whilst the screw struts past.

Twice each day, more in some other prisons, and the remand centres, prisoners must show respect to: the flag, the king, the prison governor, and the screws in general. Once each year, in April, all prisoners must crawl on hands and knees in front of the governor and receive his forgiveness for being ‘bad people’. This ceremony is filmed for education purposes in Bang Kwang.

Farang prisoners demonstrating an insufficient lack of respect to the screws usually end up in the punishment wing, or Chokey, (solitary confinement) the inmate is deprived of all contact. Other than those times when the screws decide to conduct remedial lectures on deportment. This meditation time is tempered with shackling. Those inmates already sporting leg jewellery are ‘rewarded’ with a second or third adornment.

The pay scale for screws wouldn’t impress you though. Officially an entry level Pookum Chang starts at $50 per month. This rises, in 8 incremental starts, to an official $400 per month for an assistant governor. But, don’t be dismayed, the department of corruptions encourages all screws to avail themselves of the many business opportunities that present themselves. All, not most, screws manage to quadruple their salaries by shaking down the inmates. As a farang I am required to make a voluntary contribution of $40 per month to the POA benefit fund equivalent.

 

Professional Smugglers?

 

Most foreign Prisoners in Bangkwang Prison are here fro trying to smuggle drugs through the airport.

Most of these people are not professional smugglers!

So why did they do it?

Prisons around the world are filled with stupid tourists who thought they could pay of their holiday or put down a deposit on an apartment or house back home by doing just one run.

You’re an idiot if you traffic drugs, anyway, unless you’re prepared to face up to the consequences:

“Most People aren’t”

if you’re going to take the risk, then you might as well organise the whole thing yourself. That way, no one can set you up and you get to take all the profits yourself. Statistically most mules (smugglers) do get through. BUT what if you are the unlucky one who gets – BUSTED?

There are no credit points for having been law- abiding citizen your whole life up until that moment.

Especially in Thailand, you get thrown in with the rest of them.

So if you’re ever thinking of doing a drug run!, before making your final decision you should visit the local prison where you’ll be living if you get caught!

Lots of Mules here at Bangkwang visit them!