Banged up: Thai prison nightmare exposed by British tourist
A British tourist revealed the grim conditions banged up abroad in a Thai prison and issued a chilling warning to fellow travellers about the reality of being detained abroad.
The 29 year old former soldier, who wished to remain anonymous, endured a 15-day ordeal in two police cells and a Bangkok deportation centre after overstaying his visa, a blunder he deeply regrets.
“The only way I can describe it is hell.”
Held with 130 other people in a stifling room devoid of ventilation, he added, “We could only go out for an hour a week.”
The grim picture didn’t end there. Guards would distribute food in trays washed on the filthy bathroom floor using cold water.
“Everywhere I stayed was infested with fire ants and cockroaches. The rubbish just piled up in a corner.”
His Thai adventure began with hope and ambition in April of the previous year, as he planned to settle and start a business. However, his dreams crumbled in November when a spat with an ex landed him in hot water in Pattaya.
Police, alerted to his visa status, arrested him and dragged him to court, claiming he had overstayed by a few days.
“The police were very violent. Two officers ambushed me in a public toilet and beat me. They threw me onto the flatbed of a truck and cuffed me to the side.”
Dazed and disoriented, the British man suspected he suffered a concussion and was left in the dark about his fate until Russian cellmates enlightened him about the process.
“They lent me money to pay my court fine, otherwise, it would have been much worse.”
Packed into a cramped police cell measuring six-by-four feet alongside eight other inmates, he resorted to bribery to make life fractionally more bearable.
The prisoners jostled for space and struggled to rest, with no room to lie down properly.
“There was a pregnant girl from Laos who was really struggling, always crying with her head on the floor. It was horrible, especially as another cell, the same size, was packed with 13 people.”
After eight gruelling days in Pattaya, he was moved to Bangkok’s deportation centre, where behaviour worsened. Sharing four grim toilets with 130 detainees, they relied on a bucket of cold water for cleaning and bathing. Weekends granted an hour of fresh air in a roofless, barred area, barely a respite.
“A guy sold pot noodles in one corner. That’s all I’d eat.”
His mother fought tooth and nail with the British embassy to secure his release, eventually getting him flown home. It cost 500 baht (£11.94) per night for his stay at the deportation centre, plus airfare.
Remarkably, the British tourist managed to smuggle a phone inside, hidden in baby wipes, to capture the conditions, the Daily Mail reported
“Once you’re locked in, you have zero contact and no way to access money. Someone outside must fight for you. I’m fortunate I sneaked my phone inside and my mum contacted the embassy, otherwise, I’d still be stuck there.”
His experience served as a stark warning to travellers.
“Don’t risk overstaying your visa thinking it’s just a small fine. It’s not worth becoming a victim of this.”
Bitter from his ordeal, he declared he would never return to Thailand. He criticised the system as a “cash-making scheme” for the government, claiming that tourism, the backbone of Thailand’s economy, exploits foreigners through such detentions.
The former soldier’s ordeal serves as a sobering reminder of the consequences of visa lapses and the stark realities lurking behind Thailand’s tourist veneer, urging cautious adherence to immigration laws to avoid a similar nightmare.
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