PJ Prison v Prey Sar

[Chicagogato]

PJ is like a country club compared to Prey Sar. I've visited friends in both.

The friend, who is in PJ now, was and is a big time drug dealer. He has a Facebook page and cell phone. When I was last there he came out in his prison uniform and we sat around the visiting area and drank soda and chatted. There are women housed near by and they can come in contact with the male inmates under certain circumstances.

Prey Sar is a real nightmare. I had to pay 3 bribes to get on to the grounds. I waited 2 hours before being told "Not today. Come back tomorrow." Got into a bit of a shouting match with the messenger and I took a photo of him. This pissed him off and soon out came another guy with a piece of paper that appeared to be an appointment. I came back the next day and was allowed to see my friend. I had to pay the same guys again and then had to pay another $10 just to make sure he got the care package I'd brought for him. The place looks like a cross between a concentration camp and a mad house.

[horace]

^^That's a fairly good description of both.

[Elekid]

The monthly articles in Bayon Pearnik by a Prey Sar inmate were quite a good read a while back. They have stopped now - I wonder if he was released. Anyone know who it was writing those?

Here's the link.
http://www.bayonpearnik.com/articles/stories

[PJC]

Does anyone know where T3 was located? I've tracked it down to "between the National Museum and Kandal Market", but does anyone have a more precise location?

This article is my source: http://www.khmer440.com/k/2012/02/in-th ... ian-clink/

[slavedog]

The monthly articles in Bayon Pearnik by a Prey Sar inmate were quite a good read a while back. They have stopped now - I wonder if he was released. Anyone know who it was writing those?

Here's the link.
http://www.bayonpearnik.com/articles/stories

Thanks for that. Just had a quick look. The first paragraph claims it to be a work of fiction. I vaguely remember chatting to the editor in chief about it and him saying it was factual, could be wrong about that, though. It certainly has some verisimilitude.

[scobienz]

Does anyone know where T3 was located? I've tracked it down to "between the National Museum and Kandal Market", but does anyone have a more precise location?

This article is my source: http://www.khmer440.com/k/2012/02/in-th ... ian-clink/

The article refers to the location now being a number of barbecued beef restaurants. Given that, I think it is likely to be at the site of the two or three open air Khmer restaurants on Street 13, between 172 and 154.

[Lucky Lucan]

It was the green part on this satellite image, where there is mostly a car-park now.

[PJC]

[quote="Lucky Lucan"]It was the green part on this satellite image, where there is mostly a car-park now.

Thanks. I'm asking because I've just written a blog-post about the old prisons of Phnom Penh, mostly about their appearance in literature (Herb Trader and Zero Hour in Phnom Penh, but a nice ghost story by Bronwyn Sloane too). Would you mind if I added the map and photos (with credit to this thread I guess)?

[Lucky Lucan]

No worries, I just found the pictures anyway.

[PJC]

Thanks very much. You seem to have quite a collection of these historic photos.

[Lucky Lucan]

I think this was taken just before T3 was demolished, maybe 2000 or something.



A bit before that, looking very clean.


The cop shop on Pasteur in maybe 2005.


And in 1940.



And just recently:

[ken svay]

It all looks so much better now, the city fathers have excelled at civic planning as we know.

[khmerhit]

wish we had those wide boulevards in canada, we probably would, too, if the French had won at the plains of Abraham.

T3 was the prison across from heart of darkness, right? I used to stare at it a lot, and enjoyed telling young women what it was, one of them the journalist mentioned above. i went to visit someone in there, i doubtr he was guilty of anything but he had to flee the country, you know how it is.

[Lucky Lucan]

T3 was the prison across from heart of darkness, right?

No, that was PJ.