A heroin trafficker who was convicted and sentenced to years in prison in Thailand has spoken out about her experience there, sharing a cell with 120 other women and consuming food that had maggots in it.
The deplorable living circumstances were endured by Holly Deane-Johns, 51, when she was incarcerated in Lardyao Women’s Correctional Facility.
She was sentenced to 31 years in prison in 2003 after entering a guilty plea in 2000 for attempting to mail 10.4g of heroin back to Australia.
Before being freed in 2012 on a five-year parole, Ms. Deane-Johns was able to move to Bandyup Prison in Perth in 2007. She currently works as an Uber driver in her native state.
While serving her sentence at the Thai prison known as the “Bangkok Hilton,” she had to put up with appalling living circumstances while managing to dodge the death penalty.
Ms. Deane-Johns spoke openly about her experience, citing the claustrophobic living quarters, terrible food, and unclean surroundings.
The Australian lady was crammed into a 5-by-6-meter cage with 120 other women.
She told the West Australian, “That was really f***ing horrific; I was thinking where I was going to sleep.”
Ms. Deane-Johns recalls having to compete for open spaces in the cell when their classmate temporarily went to the restroom and their cellmates took over.
She remembered sharing a cell with several individuals and staying close to them in the heat.
Since she was sleeping so close to her prisoners, Ms. Deane-Johns said she often woke up covered in period blood.
Minor illnesses like conjunctivitis may become fatal if a prisoner decided to use a pair of pliers to extract a decayed tooth.
Even little problems, like a toothache, may become major ones since everything was unpleasant, according to Ms. Deane-Johns.
Inmates were made to stand on tables and hold water over their heads “like a crucifixion” as punishment, which was just as appalling as the living circumstances.
Since the food was of such low quality, Ms. Deane-Johns often discovered stones, hair, and maggots in her meals; other times, she just went without sustenance.
Sometimes, she said, “if you didn’t have job, your entire day would be spent sitting around doing nothing.”
During a protracted battle with AIDS, Ms. Deane-Johns lost her close companion Aong, and she spoke of how carelessly guards treated her body.
“I observed from my cell as two men lifted her up in a bag, swung her three times, and then threw her into a vehicle like a sack of potatoes,” the witness said. I thought, “That’s my partner,” when I heard the thump, she remarked.
As the only Aussie in the cell, she claimed to feel out of place and made every effort to fit in.
She had her hair colored, produced silk flowers to sell, sold food and cosmetics, and studied Thai.
After seeing the media frenzy around Schapelle Corby, Ms. Deane-Jones said that she learnt to avoid attention and become elusive.
In October 2004, Corby, a 27-year-old beauty student, made headlines when she was found in possession of 4.2 kg of marijuana in her boogie board suitcase at Bali’s Ngurah Rai Airport. Corby has always maintained her innocence of the charge.
The media carefully covered the court case in her case, which received a lot of media attention.
Ms. Deane-Jones, who had sympathy for Ms. Corby, sent her a letter telling her to keep quiet, but she never heard back and is unsure whether the message was ever delivered.
A serendipitous encounter with Debbie Singh, a Western Australian, enabled Ms. Deane-Jones to be sent back to Australia.
After being imprisoned for fraud in 1997, Ms. Singh’s brother John became the first Australian to be transferred from a Thai prison in 2003.
Because his transfer had established a precedent, Ms Singh would go see Ms Deane-Jones and other prisoners in an effort to assist them in returning to their families.
A 2002 deal between Thailand and Australia allowed for her to be repatriated home.
As long as the cost of their repatriation was covered and they stayed in prison to serve out their term, inmates might be repatriated back to their native country.
Ms. Deane-Jones was welcomed back home in 2007 thanks in part to former premier Carmen Lawrence, Labor supporters Graham Edwards and John Hyde.
After being released from prison in 2012, Ms. Deane-Jones was given a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and is now employed as an Uber driver.
She has documented her whole story in a book named “Holly’s Hell – My Long Journey Home” with the hopes of one day sharing it with others.
»Holly Deane-Jones reveals her stint in Thailand’s famed “Bangkok Hilton” prison«