Showing 1 - 10 of 11
Is 'White Prison' making Bang Khwang a darker place?
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 17/03/2013
» Bang Khwang Central Prison is undergoing a transformation under an initiative aimed at ridding the notorious "Bangkok Hilton" and eight other facilities of drugs and other contraband. The "White Prison" policy came into effect last May under new director Vasant Singkaselit. Under the policy, visitors have been banned from bringing food, clothes or other items for prisoners; even books are banned. Prisoners are allowed to meet visitors once a day for 45 minutes, up to two visits a week, while visitors can only seen one inmate per day. Inmate workshops have been cancelled, punishments have become harsher and access to help in case of medical or fire emergencies has been limited.
From Cold War to the 'Tor Chor Dor'
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 10/02/2013
» At the height of the nuclear arms race during the Cold War, US military strategists theorised that if tensions escalated, controlled nuclear strikes against the Soviets could force them to back down.
The knock-on effect for Bangkok's knock-offs
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 20/01/2013
» Last week, a man came to tell Jasmine, a vendor in the Nana area, that the Department of Special Investigation would be conducting a raid. He took the unusual step of telling her not only to temporarily close down, but to move all of her counterfeit goods back home for two days.
'Evil man from Krabi' victim speaks out
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 25/11/2012
» 'Im trying to pick up my life again, but until justice is served I'm finding it difficult," said the victim of a alleged rape in July, in Ao Nang, Krabi province last week.
Locked away and forgotten: inside a high security jail
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 04/11/2012
» At two security checkpoints visitors are frisked and scanned with metal detectors. No sharp objects, no liquids, no metals, no mobile phones or gadgets.
UAE activist in limbo as uncertain fate awaits
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 29/07/2012
» He had never left the United Arab Emirates or been on a plane before, but Ahmad Karim Abdulkhaleq, a dissident expelled from his country on July 16, now finds himself staying in the heart of Bangkok and facing an uncertain future.
Dead child walking
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 22/07/2012
» Just returned from a visit to Bangkok's notorious Bang Kwang prison, Toshi Kazama is ready to talk about criminal justice. On a rainy evening at the Foreign Correspondents' Club last week, the Japanese-born photographer shows slides of his photographs of juvenile offenders and speaks about the complexities of capital punishment. He has been photographing young people on death row since 1996, mostly in the US, where he has lived since the age of 15, and more recently across Asia.
Reaching out to the people languishing in nowhere land
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 10/06/2012
» Fongchan Suksaneh says she was in a "quasi-stateless" situation for 25 years and applied numerous times for citizenship, before finally receiving it following promulgation of the fourth Nationality Act in 2008. "I was told many times, 'We don't need people like you. Go to a different country!' ... I wasn't considered a Thai person even though I couldn't tell the difference myself."
For-profit business model sees citizens reap dividends
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 03/06/2012
» In Yangon an organisation, FXB Myanmar, gives vocational training and business opportunities to HIV-positive workers and women rescued from the Thai sex industry. A manufacturer of affordable foot pumps for irrigation, Proximity Designs, has a network of distribution channels to upcountry farmers that NGOs and government organisations envy. BusinessKind-Myanmar sells low-cost mosquito netting in malarial and dengue fever regions, and half of its work force is also HIV-positive. Myanmar Business Executives provides low-interest microcredit and networking outlets to needy individuals and organisations.
Dragons & butterflies, an inmate finds inner peace
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 13/05/2012
» South African Alexander Krebs, known to friends and family as "Shani", arrived in Bangkok in April 1994 on a 10 day holiday. He was 34 at the time and writing a novel, but was also a 15-year-long drug addict who had a sporadic wild streak in him and had just broken up with his fiancee. His family thought the time away would do him good.