More about Prisoners Abroad

If there's anything that scares the excreta - that's shit to you and me – out of the Prisoners Abroad (PA) and their boss here at the British Embassy in Bangkok, Kate Duffall (kate.dufall@fco.gov.uk should you wish to forward this entry on to her) is that we Britons have unimpeded access to the outside world Both PA and the the Embassy go to inordinate lengths to ensure we remain muzzled. Perhaps blog followers maybe interested in the modus operandi (MO) of PA. This will be much expanded on in the PA chapter of my book.

Credit though, where credit is due. As with many scams perpetrated on us Brits in Thai Gaols by those allegedly helping us, I first heard of this possibility from a Lat Yao resident, (Alan) John Davies, better known to me as Deep Throat or DT.

As soon as I started receiving Nexus, a bi-monthly magazine for the active ex-pat community edited by Sheila Hare in the UK, I realised that this was a terrific source of potential visitors and supporters. I resolved to open up a line of communication with Sheila and Nexus post haste. I sent in a number of articles on Thai prison life and after persevering for 2 years made the breakthrough, or so I thought.

Either my timing was abysmally bad or I was curse by god-awful luck. Running parallel with my low-key requests that those Nexus readers living/working in Thailand may want to write to me here in the Hilton, Sheila also fielded a full on obtrusive demand from PA.

Now PA proclaim that it doesn't have any position whatsoever on the merits of whether its clients (that's us inmates) are guilty or innocent. Yet PA's Nexus submission was emphasising the inadvisability of anyone having direct contact with inmates as they were effectively letting total strangers into their homes. Instead, as PA recommended, better to write to British Prisoners via PA itself and let them forward the letters and replies accordingly. That way the convict need never know the “Pen Pals” home address.

Ostensibly a reasonable caveat. Indeed Sheila herself proposed a similar approach in that Nexus members – one has to be a member to receive the magazine or access the website – wrote to me via the Nexus home offices in the UK until the correspondent became comfortable to do otherwise. I had no problem with that, at least it would remove the unnecessary touting for handouts that DT had warned me about and PA were notorious for. Remind me one day to tell you of how PA hounded my mother, when she was dying of cancer, for a legacy.

PA, by intimation and Kate Duffall directly, have both readily voiced to all and sundry that we are drug barons, murderers, paedophiles, rapists and sex tourists even. The sole moral dereliction we have thus far escaped being accused of ghoulishness, which is PA's and the Embassy preserve.

After my request in Nexus was published Sheila wrote to me saying she had received a number of letters from members – about 50% favourable and 50% strongly censorious – and she had packaged them up and as per PA's kind offer to send them on to me, had posted them c/o The PA London address.

Needless to say I didn't see a single one. I wrote to PA about 2 months later asking what had happened to my mail. I received a supercilious response deliberately misinterpreting my question, stating that they were not responsible if no one wanted to write to me! Bollox

Hugs

Bridget