The judge has charged the Spaniard Daniel Sancho with premeditated murderhiding the body and destroying the victim’s documentation, which is why has sentenced him to life imprisonmentThe Court considered Sancho’s collaboration throughout the proceedings as a mitigating factor, which is why the death penalty was ruled out.
Now Sancho must be transferred to another prison less “friendly” than the one in Samuiwhere he has been provisionally admitted since August 7, 2023. Bang Kwang, better known as the “Hilton” or “The Great Tiger” -because he devours his prisoners-, It is one of the most dangerous prisons in the world. Located 7 kilometres from Bangkok on the banks of the Chao Phraya River, it has a capacity of 3,000 prisoners, but there are currently more than 7,000, all sentenced to long terms for bloody crimes.
An overcapacity that causes inmates to be overcrowded and the conditions to be extremely harsh, since Up to 10 people live together in cells measuring 4 square metres. This overcrowding is even more complicated because they have free rein in the prison rats and cockroachesserious health problems caused by the lack of drinking water and malnutrition are combined, as prisoners spend up to 17 hours a day without any food. Some ex-convicts say that living there is very difficult and sleeping is impossible not only because of the heat, humidity, smell and because there are convicts who take advantage of the situation to masturbate on other inmates. It is common for inmates to carry a punch to defend themselves inside the center.
Malnutrition, disease and violence
Furthermore, medical assistance – which Daniel has enjoyed until now in Koh Samui prison, as he has been in the nursing module for a hernia – is conspicuous by its absence, since ‘The Hilton’ – read the irony of the name – only has one doctor and two nurses for the 7,000 inmates. An extremely dangerous prison due to the extreme conditions in which the prisoners are kept, which violate human rights; but not only for this reason, since fights and confrontations between the inmates – whose sentences are long due to the severity of their crimes – are common, which will greatly complicate the daily life of Rodolfo Sancho’s son in Bang Kwang.
As explained at the time by analyst Fernando Cocho in the program “Code 10”, the Bang Kwang prison “It is an indirect death threat”The mortality rate at the centre is around 25% after two years of confinement, due to malnutrition, disease and violence. Prisoners often carry a pickaxe to defend themselves. There is also a high rate of suicide and deaths from “suspicious causes”.