Bali Nine pair get 72-hour execution notice

[Yohan]

... Thai jails are full of farangs ...

I think there was case many years ago where western daughter of a high ranking insurance exec somehow got out of a multi decade prison sentence for drugs.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ydney.html

She is not the only one, other women managed to get out of the death penalty / life sentence and were even legally released after serving only a few years.

For a Western women for sure it is much easier to get out of jail than for any man.

Nola Blake is a good example, sentenced to death in Thailand for drug offence, released after 11 years,
Sandra Gregory is another example, sentenced to death and out of the Thai jail after only 4 years, transferred to a UK jail, finally out of jail after serving 3 years in UK.

I also remember a similar case in Laos about a woman from UK.

Clearly a double standard, not only in Western countries, but in Asia as well.

[Yohan]

..... given the conditions of prisons of the region, death sentence might be best you could hope for. It's not like doing soft time in Norway!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -king.html

Gregory, who had lived in Thailand for four years working as an English teacher, had 102 grams of heroin hidden inside her body in four condoms.
.....
A Foreign Office official escorted Gregory, who was wearing blue jeans, a black top and red jacket, from the prison. He delivered a personal message from Lady Scotland, the minister responsible for consulate affairs, wishing Gregory good luck.

He said: "We are all shocked how quickly this has happened. Our ambassador in Bangkok was called in yesterday evening, and paper and faxes have flown between the Foreign Office and Prison Service very quickly. We were expecting it to take up to 10 days."

A woman in jail and all politicians are getting busy, I doubt if men can expect the same treatment. Politicians wishing you good luck as an convicted but early released criminal?

Interesting, this is all about a UK woman who was in jail in Thailand - she preferred it to jails in UK.

What you say is true for men, but surely not for women...as I always say, double standard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Gregory

After spending four years in Lard Yao, Gregory was transferred at her choice to Britain in 1997 to complete the remainder of her sentence (21 years). She found she was imprisoned in maximum security prisons there: in the UK prisoners were classified by the length of their sentence despite the fact that in the UK trafficking would have attracted a much shorter sentence. In one letter to her parents she said "I wish I had stayed in Thailand". She spent hours confined to her cell in England. In Lard Yao prisoners had the freedom to roam around the prison and the grounds. At least in Lard Yao she was "happy" as she could see the blue sky and the green trees in the prison garden.

[Rock]

... Thai jails are full of farangs ...

I think there was case many years ago where western daughter of a high ranking insurance exec somehow got out of a multi decade prison sentence for drugs.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ydney.html

She is not the only one, other women managed to get out of the death penalty / life sentence and were even legally released after serving only a few years.

For a Western women for sure it is much easier to get out of jail than for any man.

Nola Blake is a good example, sentenced to death in Thailand for drug offence, released after 11 years,
Sandra Gregory is another example, sentenced to death and out of the Thai jail after only 4 years, transferred to a UK jail, finally out of jail after serving 3 years in UK.

I also remember a similar case in Laos about a woman from UK.

Clearly a double standard, not only in Western countries, but in Asia as well.

But a high percentage of western prisoners doing hard time in Thailand get either a King's pardon after serving a few years or sent back to their own countries after a certain number of years as per prison exchange treaties w their home countries. The Thai Interest section in Asia Books or Bookazine have several books written by foreigners who've done time in Thailand's prisons, usually for drugs. Only one of those was written by a woman (British I believe) yet all of them are out now even though they were given much longer sentences than they ended up serving. One of them even managed to escape and that was probably the most compelling read of them all. That guy was really connected and plugged into the underworld though. Others who've attempted escape learned the hard way that if you don't make it, you're in for the type of beating that will likely cripple you!

Now Jon Cole, a white American who wrote about his own Thai prison experience in "Bangkok Hard Time" claimed that western prisoners are given favorable treatment over Chinese and other Asians. However, his experience is very dated by now. He went to high school in Bangkok in late 60s and did his prison time in 80s I believe. He, like many others, was eventually granted a King's pardon. For those imprisoned for non-drugs crimes (even murder), their chances are even better.

[Rock]

The thing I've gathered about prison life in Thailand from various accounts I've looked at is that there is actually a kind of community/social life which goes on out in the yard during the day. If you have access to some money which most westerners do, you can secure many food, drink, and other items, even drugs, to ease your pain and boredom. Also, it doesn't seem to generally be very violent as long as you know your place, respect the guards and blueshirts, follow Thai customs, etc.

Contrast that to a medium or max security facility in USA where you are under serious ongoing threat of severe violence and rape. Maybe the infrastructure is much better but where would you rather be?