I am a Prisoner in the Bangkok Hilton

These tales are some of the problems and adventures that came to John Shaw MBE from British citizens when he was Honorary British Consul in Chiang Mai from 1990 to 1995. Some stories are sad, others hilarious; have a read. They are true. Tom Tom was, by profession, an electrician. Aged twenty -eight he had worked in a shoe factory in Leicester for seven years. Bored and lovelorn he gave up his job and decided to travel the world. He meandered through Indonesia and then spent a year in Australia doing odd jobs to support himself. Now on his way home he was spending the last of his money in Thailand , first on the beaches of the south and now, for his last few days, in Chiang Mai until his money ran out. It never occurred to him that His Majesty's Government would give him free accommodation for an additional unexpected forty-two days in Chiang Mai. Tom checked into the Rim Koo Guesthouse where he was asked to share a room with an Australian who had been there for some time. This man...

Gary Graeme Jones is a prisoner in Bang Kwang Prison. The infamous Bangkok Hilton. So many people have heard of it but do not realise what a nightmare that name conjures. I have never been there, I have never been to Thailand and from what I have heard of the place I never wish to go. My partner read a book, The Angel of Bang Kwang by an American, Susan Aldous (ISBN-10: 1905379323). In this book was detailed the issues that all the prisoners have to deal with from day to day, bribery, corruption, lack of food, lack of sanitation and an unbelievable harsh regime. In this book Susan Aldous said the best way to help is to write to someone there. We picked Gary from the Foreign Prisoner Support Service (http://www.phaseloop.com/foreignprisoners/pris-bangkwang.html) The website describes Bang Kwang as "a Maximum Security Prison which holds inmates who are serving more than 25 years" It also says "Overcrowding is an understatement as 20 or more inmates sleep side by side...