Phonthong Prison
Phonthong Prison (ຄຸກໂພນຕ້ອງ), known as the 'Foreigners Prison', is a mixed sex prison near Vientiane, Laos.[1][2] The prison is used to hold non-Laotian prisoners.
Conditions
By Western standards, prison conditions are poor. Cells measuring about sixteen square metres are used to hold up to six inmates.[citation needed] Rations consist of two bowls of pig fat water soup and sticky rice per cell per day.[citation needed] According to former prisoner Kay Danes, prisoners are regularly tortured using techniques including mock executions, beatings and waterboarding and some prisoners have had their genitals burned.
History
In Laos, there are four categories of persons held in confinement. Aside from common criminals, there are political, social, and ideological deviants. The crimes of the three latter groups are often vaguely defined, their arrests arbitrary, and their length of confinement ambiguous.
Phonthong is used to hold non-Laotian prisoners. This prison received international media attention when Australian couple Kerry and Kay Danes were arrested and detained from December 2000 until October 2001. In August 2008, British woman Samantha Orobator was arrested with 680 grams of heroin and became pregnant while in Phonthong. In June 2009, she was sentenced to life imprisonment. [3] Laotian law prescribed the death penalty for drug smuggling, but Orobator avoided this sentence due to her pregnancy. In August 2009, she was repatriated to the UK to serve the balance of her sentence. In due course, Orobator was released subject to a life licence.[4][5] The England and Wales High Court ruled that she had not suffered a "flagrant denial of justice".[6]
See also
References
- ^ Harman, Harriet (May 2009). "Fighting for a fair trial". Retrieved 2009-05-05.
- ^ "Lawyer to visit pregnant prisoner". BBC News. 2009-05-04. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
- ^ "Lao court jails pregnant Briton for life". Reuters. 3 June 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
- ^ Orobator v HMP Holloway [2010] EWHC 58 (Admin) (20 January 2010)
- ^ "Laos drug Briton's jail term cut". BBC News. 20 January 2010. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
- ^ Orobator v HMP Holloway [2010] EWHC 58 (Admin) (20 January 2010)
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