The Last Executioner (13 page)

Our officers kept asking the men to remain calm, and eventually this led to the hostages, Officers Gamol Sukpan and Prasit Taptimsri, being safely released. I don’t really think that the two men were ever in real danger. They were unpopular as prison guards and were probably held briefly for a laugh more than anything else. However, if we thought this signalled an end to the trouble we were sadly mistaken. Things started to kick off again around mid-day. It turned out that the prisoners whose behaviour prohibited them from having visitors had been very busy otherwise—making booze from fermented fruit. So we had hardened criminals running wild, angry, frustrated, some high and now most of them drunk. They decided that they should look for some new recruits and started to throw things across the wall into Wing 5, by way of invitation to join their revolution. Fuelled by fruit the inmates at 6 began to roar, clap, stamp their feet and hammer at the bars. They formed a pyramid using the tables, thus making it easier for the men at 5 to join them.

Meanwhile, it was lunch-time. It was decided that we should feed the inmates regardless of the situation. We could have tried to starve them in order to break their hold, but then any 6 prisoners who were not party to the revolt might join their mates out of hunger and anger. I suppose we also hoped that the food might soak up the alcohol. Since we couldn’t enter the wing I had to push the food cart just past the inner gate of 6 and then stop. I slid open the peak hole and was told politely by the prisoner sent to accept the food.

‘Thank you Sir. I’ll handle it from here.’

I nodded stiffly in acquiescence. We both pretended that I had a choice.

The Superintendent was trying to negotiate with them. He kept asking the inmates to choose one representative he could speak with, but they just refused point-blank. They told him that they would only speak with the Minister of Interior, General Sithi Jirarod. Nevertheless, he did discover what the riot was all about. A politician’s promise was causing all this trouble—a promise that could never be kept. Someone had publicly promised all prisoners that he would personally make a proposal to the Minister of Interior to submit a petition for a Royal Pardon on the occasion of the funeral of Her Majesty Rampaipannee. She was the wife of His Majesty Rama VII. His rashness acted like a burning cigarette on oil—it blew the place up. Amnesty was every prisoner’s dream and fantasy, and no politician could casually promise them one. The Royal Family usually granted the Royal Pardon to prisoners on special occasions; special
happy
occasions, which a funeral was most definitely not. Inevitably, the convicts were bitterly disappointed when no pardon proved forthcoming, and naturally the politician denied promising anything later.

To be honest the inmates were being a bit unrealistic with their expectations. The whole process of granting amnesty takes a long time to complete. The Minister of Interior can only submit a proposal to the Royal Family or their representatives, for a mass amnesty. He certainly cannot rush the Family into making a decision. The prisoners on death row have up to 60 days after receiving their sentence to petition for their own amnesty. But then they could be left waiting for 12 months before they hear anything back.

***

The situation was worsening all the time. One wall separates each wing from the other. Prisoners at 5 who had been enticed to join now issued a similar invite to those in 4. The chaos was contagious, spreading quickly from wing to wing. Inmates broke into the offices and factories and started to systematically destroy all around them. They helped themselves to anything that could be used as, or fashioned into, a weapon. The Superintendent asked for the megaphone and begged the prisoners in 6 to calm down and return to their cells. Oddly, they promised to take it down a notch but were completely against returning to their own quarters. He issued the same request to the prisoners in 4 and 5. They issued the same response as 6.

Over 100 more police officers arrived at the prison. They spread out to prevent any escapes, and try to limit the protest to Wing 6. Shortly after their arrival they were joined by a group of Commandos. Police General Suwan Rattanashuen from the Department of Special Affairs turned up with Sanid Rujinarong, the Director General of DOC and other senior officers from the Ministry of Interior. At 12.30pm a meeting was called. Our Superintendent described the whole situation in detail and they studied an aerial map of Bang Kwang. Their meeting was disrupted 30 minutes later when the convicts resumed throwing things over the wall and chanting, ‘We won’t work, we’ll just fucking eat!’

At 1.10pm the men elected a representative who was demanding to speak to prominent politicians, members of the National Assembly and, last but not least, the media. He wished to issue the prisoners’ demands at 2pm. The prisoners had also furnished themselves with banners which they held proudly aloft for all to see. The messages varied little—‘We would rather die if we don’t get amnesty,’ and, ‘We were promised amnesty.’

At 1.30pm the police and prison officers removed all fuel from the prison wings to prevent anyone from thinking how wonderful it would be to set the prison on fire. The Superintendent told the administrative officers to digs out the files of all the ring leaders and study their profiles. Knowledge is power. One of the officer hostages, Gamol, was brought before the Superintendent to describe in detail what had happened from the very beginning.

‘Prasit and I were on duty in Wing 6. The first sign of trouble was when the prisoner Munggorn (Dragon) approached us. He was carrying a metal bar that had been sharpened to a point at one end, which he shoved at my neck as he told us: “You officers must get out of this wing now because we are about to have a revolution.” We had no choice but to leave. The other leaders are Vipop Phrahanthongchai and Noi Chaimard.’

The two were well known to all the prison guards through their constant complaints. Every month, without fail, they submitted two to three complaints about living conditions in the jail.

Gamol continued: ‘Noi led dozens of inmates to take over the canteen. He climbed up on to a table and gave a speech to rouse the men to action. He was working the men up into a rage against the prison staff. When they appeared excited enough he instructed them to spread themselves throughout Wing 6 but to be careful to always stay in groups. He continued seducing the men with his wrath and it wasn’t long before he was joined in the canteen by over 1,000 inmates, who started to shout, “No amnesty? We would rather die.”’

Noi Chaimard was a hardened criminal at 40 years of age. He was an extremely intelligent and articulate man, which made him more dangerous in our eyes. He had been imprisoned here before after being charged with murder. Now he had returned after being arrested and charged for attempted murder. Dragon was 26, and was in prison for a kidnapping and murder in the Lopburi Province. I don’t think any of the officers were surprised at their instigating this riot; they were born troublemakers through and through and were a constant thorn in our sides.

The staff was made aware that there were worried families waiting outside the jail, wondering if they were going to be let in to resume their visit with their relative. They would have also been anxious about the welfare of their relative if the riot escalated. The prison made an announcement that Visiting Day and normal visitation hours were temporarily cancelled due to the ongoing disorder. They would have to wait until the following day to hear if normal visiting hours would be established. The prison also took the time to reassure the families that the law abiding convicts would be protected at all costs. However we would be reacting strongly to anyone who was taking part in the riot.

Meanwhile the rabble-rousing continued. There was a tough group of prisoners who called themselves ‘Samurai’, but they were nothing like their namesakes. They lacked the grace and dignity of the Samurais and were in reality a bunch of gangsters who liked to pick on the weaker inmates. They were the biggest contributors to the riot. They were the ones who convinced the inmates who wanted to return to their cells that if they did so they would just be beaten up by the prison guards. So it was to their own good to stay rioting with them. Some of the foreign prisoners had also been enticed to join in. We could hear the riot leaders urging their forces to fight until they dropped because it would be worth it if they were able to obtain amnesty. They kept demanding that the alleged promise of amnesty be kept. They started to organise their campaign in a more efficient manner and got themselves lawyers. These lawyers, inmates who had a background in law, from Wings 4 and 5, went to the canteen to submit their support for Wing 6 and offer their expertise. They gave a couple of encouraging speeches and then set about writing up the prisoners’ proposals for negotiations.

At 1.40 in the afternoon the inmates were told by one of the leaders to start conserving water. They were obviously planning a long campaign. The small prison shop was overrun and its products; cartons of milk, soft drinks, tinned fruit and vegetables and cigarettes, were seized and dispensed to the rioters free of charge. We could hear the men cheering and clapping in their appreciation of the free bounty. A megaphone was taken from an office in Wing 6 and became the means for communicating with the outside world.

At 1.50pm one of the ring leaders addressed the journalists and camera crews standing at the gates of the prison. The prisoner asked the media to help aid the inmates in their appeal for amnesty. They hoped that the media would put pressure on Sanya Thammasak, President of the Privy Council, to give the inmates what they wanted.

At 2pm the Director-General of DOC appointed the Vice Director-General, Vijid Thongkum, to resolve the situation. The guy with the megaphone continued to address the journalists. The riot would not stop until the prisoners’ demands were met. They realised that their actions were wrong and they were sorry that they had been driven to these lengths. All they wished was to be allowed a second chance to return to society and show themselves to be good citizens. They wanted to make their contribution towards making Thailand a great place to live. He continued on with their grievances. The prisoners felt that they were badly treated in Bang Kwang and that nobody on the outside really cared about their welfare. They said they were being treated no better than caged animals. They had to take over the prison because no one else was going to help them. The politicians who promised mass amnesty had all but disappeared. Furthermore, if they didn’t get amnesty, they would rather die.

At 2.30pm prison officers at Klong Prem Prison were instructed to gather all their spare spotlights and torches and bring them to Bang Kwang. We had to prepare for the fact that the situation was going to continue into the night. Klong Prem was also hosting its Visiting Day and, like us, would have rented out a lot of electrical equipment for the occasion. Some of our officers were appointed official recorders of the proceedings. They were to take photos and film the riot scene. Then we heard a big commotion as a large group from Wing 5 tried to break into Wing 2 for some fresh recruits. One of the guards fired a warning shot from the 7-storey security tower, which sent the group running back to 5.

At 3pm medical staff arrived at the prison. The Ministry of Interior had requested the hospital in Nonthaburi to send over doctors and nurses just in case. Hundreds of onlookers had now gathered at the prison gates to watch the scene unfold. Police had cleared and closed the roads around Bang Kwang for about 3km. The town had come to a stand still. The prisoners became more and more agitated when it seemed that they were not going to get to talk to any of the officials that they had requested meeting. They resumed their chanting of ‘No amnesty? We would rather die.’ It was hoped that they might start to get bored or realise the fruitlessness of their actions. Then at approximately 4.30pm the Vice-Director-General took a chance and got on the megaphone. He implored the prisoners to stop the riot and return to their cells. In response we heard the ring leaders tell the men to ignore the official request and continue on shouting their demands.

However his words did achieve something. Inmates from Wings 1, 2 and 3 ceased trying to join the others and allowed themselves to be locked back into their cells. The inmates from 4, 5 and 6 were most definitely the reckless ones. They were not going to listen to reason any time soon and kept busy in their attempts to climb the adjoining walls between the three wings. Some of the shackled prisoners—those on death row or those who had broken house rules—were trying to get rid of their chains. They were using crow bars to crack them open. This was to be expected, as no man wants to be shackled—he can’t take off his shorts and it’s harder to complete his daily routine.

At 4.50pm the Vice-Director-General thought to try his luck again. He had officers install amplifiers at the security tower and he climbed up on to the fort with his megaphone to beseech the rioters to calm down and stop destroying prison property. Again they ignored him, and merely countered his request with a demand for food and drink to be sent to Wing 6.

***

Tew makes another appearance into the story at this point. A few of the women were asked to set up a food stall across the road from the prison to cater for the extra staff and the families who didn’t want to leave their loved ones behind until they were sure they were safe. She told me all about it later with great excitement and pride. I’m almost sure that I had to sit through many intricate details about the recipes and ingredients used, and the number of serving plates needed, before she would let me tell her my experiences of the day.

‘Some police and prison officers hadn’t had a chance to eat lunch so we were frantically cooking our butts off for literally hundreds of uniforms. We also had to feed the officers who were stationed on the security and watch towers. We placed the food in plastic bags and a rope was lowered down from the tower. The bag was tied to the rope and away it went. In the evening the Bang Kwang authorities asked the Por Tek Teung Foundation to give us a hand. They helped us cook rice and simple dishes, and distributed it to the officers and medical staff. We also cooked and packed up food for the prisoners.’