Thai prisoners clean up sewage in Bangkok

Thai authorities have entrusted the task of cleaning up Bangkok’s unwanted sewage system to some prisoners, who go down the canals to remove the dirt using only their hands.

Usually the capital, which rises one and a half meters above sea level, is flooded by heavy rains, which lead to the clogging of the sewer system. After the concrete slabs lining the canals have been lifted, dozens of prisoners, in protective boots and thick gloves, descend to the bottom to clean the dirt and fill large iron boxes with smelly waste. This work is “very hard and exhausting,” said a 33-year-old inmate, who was not allowed to be identified, adding that “the smell was unpleasant.” He is one of about eighty prisoners transferred from three prisons to an eastern suburb of Bangkok to carry out these duties.

This work, which nobody wants to do, is a task that has allowed the prisoners to earn some money, but above all it has helped to reduce their sentence. in how much one day of imprisonment is removed from the sentence for each day worked in sewer system. “I am always ready to do this job so that I can return to my family as soon as possible,” says the prisoner, wearing a light blue hat and a dark blue suit with “Prisoner” written on his back.

Reduction of the sanction

The prisoners work all day in sweltering heat, as they eat meals provided by the merchants who are happy to finally see the plumbing near their shops cleaned. “This is the first time since the pandemic” that prisoners have cleaned up the sewage system, says a Bangkok prison guard, who refused to be named because he was not allowed to speak to the press.

FXN1uCracAAlmUC

The capital, once called the “Venice of the East”, suffers floods during the rainy season, which runs from July to October, and the obstruction of its sewer pipes aggravates the problem. An official from the Bangkok region administration believes that “cleaning the sewers more early in the rainy season will help the canals drain water quickly and there will be no problems as soon as it rains.” For an inmate who still has less than a year to spend behind bars, cleaning the sewers helped improve his feelings about his past. “We have made mistakes in our lives that have imprisoned us, so I feel satisfied as soon as I have the chance to get out of jail and do community service.”

FWpKrszacAMeP3l

Follow AsumeTech on

More From Category

More Stories Today

Leave a Reply