4,000 Days: My Life and Survival in a Bangkok Prison (Paperback)

by Warren Fellows (Author) "My father rode the winner of the Melbourne Cup in 1949..." (more)
Key Phrases: Bang Kwang, The Old Man, Maha Chai (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Survivors' tales are almost always dramatic, and Fellows's, though often stalled in mediocre writing, is no different. In 1978, at the age of 25, the Australian was convicted for heroin trafficking between his country and Thailand. Sentenced to serve the rest of his life in prison, Fellows spent 12 years in Thai prisons, each one more atrocious than the next. He recounts in stomach-wrenching detail how the Thai guards forced him to crawl through a pool of sewage, and how he routinely watched such horrors as guards caning prisoners to death. He also tells of how he turned to heroin, partly to alleviate his loneliness and desperation, and of how guards turned a blind eye to the infraction. While Fellows's account isn't nearly as riveting as Billy Hayes's Midnight Express and suffers from jumbled passages and poor structure, it proves compelling and certainly buttresses his point that "there is nothing more precious than a free life." Fellows argues?strongly?that no crime warrants the dehumanizing punishment to which he was subjected.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
In the late 1970s, author Warren Fellows and two of his friends had the perfect scheme: they would traffic heroin between Australia and Thailand, concealing it flawlessly in high-tech, invisible compartments in suitcases. The money was there, and the process seemed foolproof--especially because they hadn't gotten caught in all their prior attempts at smuggling. But in 1978, all that would change, and Fellows would spend the next twelve years of his life enduring violations of his human rights of unimaginable hideousness.

Fellows, convicted in Thailand, spent these twelve years in Bangkok's infamous Bang Kwang prison, witnessing atrocities committed by both prison officials and his fellow inmates. He survived countless torturous beatings, was forced to eat rats, and endured solitary confinement under terrifyingly inhumane conditions. On a daily basis, Fellows also witnessed the torture and execution of those around him, their screams as common as the insects and vermin in his cell. Many of the prisoners in Bang Kwang turned to heroin--the vice that landed Fellows there in the first place--to escape their daily nightmares, and the prison guards often helped feed this deadly addiction.

Fellows, now a free man, has lived to write about these twelve ghastly years. He has captured the filth, pain, anger, hopelessness, and torture of life in a Thai prison with vivid, engrossing detail and brutal honesty.


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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312253648
• ISBN-13: 978-0312253646
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #188,730 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Gave it 2 stars only because it is about Bangkok-deserves 1, November 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: 4,000 Days: My Life and Survival in a Bangkok Prison (Hardcover)

I wish that I could say that I found this book to be intelligent and insightful, however, I can't. It does not take a rocket scientist to recognize that drug trafficking is a risky business that in all probability will result in imprisonment for the participants. Fellows does not attempt to argue that what he did was wrong. Quite the contrary, he owns up to the fact HE committed a serious crime, then goes on to fill the rest of his 204 pages with a lot finger-pointing. Too bad the finger is never pointed at himself.

As far as mechanics are concerned, Fellows' writing style is underdeveloped and his descriptions are vague at best. This subject is one that fascinates a lot of people and he has had a first-hand experience (horrible though it was) that the majority of the population will never, ever know. Had he taken some time, or sought some assistance with his writing, he could have really delivered a powerful account of his time in Thai prison. He never develops any of the vignettes in his book. All of them read as though they are after-thoughts and not important in what is without a doubt the most substantial occurrence in his life. Reading this book was like opening your eyes when you are face down in the Mississippi. You know there is something there, you just can't see it through the muck. Could be some artsy way of reflecting his heroin problem but I am probably giving him too much credit.

Writing style aside, Fellows goes on and on about his situation and how awful it is--no argument there-- but does so in a way that is vacuous and contrite. He doesn't build any sense of character for himself or anyone else in the book. Who the heck is Warren Fellows really, and why should anyone care that he got tossed in Bang Kwang like any other drug smuggler? He is a mere shell of a person in the book and perhaps that is why I could not summon up any sympathy or emotion for him.

Where he did succeed in creating emotion was his many insulting comments about Thailand and Thai culture. In his arrogant style he manages to lash out and blame everyone but himself for his situtation. The book is one-sided and does not give the reader the chance to form an opinion. This is the absolute right of any author, but is so unfortunate, because Thailand is one of the most fantastic, friendly countries in the world to those who can manage to conduct themselves with respect when they visit. I have traveled to Thailand twice in the last 8 months, have many Thai friends and to say that I adore the country would be an understatement. Then again, I am NOT A HEROIN SMUGGLER! Fellows wastes many pages blaming his predicament on the corrupt police force of the "messed-up" country that is Thailand and says he "won't travel to Thailand again for anything in this life." That's good because I doubt anyone in the "Land of Smiles" wants him back.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is the sum of 12 years in a prison?, May 26, 2000

By	"ctkr" (alaska) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 4,000 Days: My Life and Survival in a Bangkok Prison (Hardcover)

This is more of a outline for a book than anything else. Its hard to believe that this guy wrote about 4000 days in a Thai jail and had so little to say. There is very little detail to what went on day to day or even about the author's life inside. He says that he became very good friends with a man from New York, but he mets this guy, gets to be pals with him and then the guy from NY dies in the space of just one or two pages. He never even gives a clear understanding of his Thai language skills or the relationship between the Thais and the foriegners. A reader above said that the writing was "flawless". No way, I am a very poor writer and have most likely made many mistakes in what your reading now. So think about it.. If a guy like me found errors in it, you know its bad.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Would be captivating if better written, August 29, 2004

By	Jonathan Nelson (Illinois) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: 4,000 Days: My Life and Survival in a Bangkok Prison (Hardcover)

This book is, to some extent, a memoir of Warren Fellows' experience with being imprisoned in Thailand for 12 years. Mr. Fellows, a native of Australia, was sentenced to life in prison for attempting to smuggle heroin out of Thailand to Australia. During his trail and imprisonment, Mr. Fellows serves time at several different facilities in Thailand. Finally after 12 years of a life sentence, he is pardoned by the King and deported back to Australia.

The prologue of the book begins by describing a scene involving a French prisoner who had a "problem" with the local insects. The scene, which is something right out of a horror movie, is described in excellent detail, enough to make my stomach churn. However, the book went downhill fast from there. The writing in the book is below average. I did not feel that the chapters flowed together at all. While I am sure that prison life is repetitive, Mr. Fellows described how he got into drugs, 12 years in prison, and what it was like to go home in 200 pages. I expected the book to contain more detail of what a day at a Thai prison was like. However, the book seemed to concentrate more on several randomly selected stories from those 12 years.

Some of the stories in the book were atrocious. The physical and mental terror that went on in the Thai prison system was astounding. For example, in retaliation for not ratting out a prisoner, a Thai guard made a group of prisoners who were playing dice stand in a tank of sewage for hours. There are other graphic stories of mental torture, such as the guards walking circles around a blindfolded prisoner, stopping for a minute, beating the prisoner, and repeating the whole procedure for a hour.

There are a couple of scenes in the book that do not seem to add up to me. First, the author mentions the dirty water in prison and how he thought it came from the river outside. In top of it, the water intake was supposedly a short ways downstream from the sewage outlet for the prison. Coming from a first-world country as Australia, which has clean water, then being forced to drink untreated river water contaminated with sewage, I suspect that the water would have made him mighty sick (coming from personal experience). However, there is no mention of that in the book (granted it could have been left out intentionally). I found it curious that the author would mention the dirty water in detail, but leave out how sick it made him.

Also, the author described a game (though he admits he never witnessed it) where the guards would make a "ball" out of bamboo, insert a prisoner, lock the "ball", and use it to try an teach an elephant to play soccer. Eventually, the elephant would get bored, and crush the ball with the person inside. I would think it would take a long time to make a "ball" out of a material such as bamboo (which does not have a consistent thickness, thus increasing the difficulty) that would be able to hold a prisoner securely, and be able to take a few kicks from an elephant before the elephant crushes it (granted the guards could be really bored and have time on their hands). These two events could very well be possible, but I just found them suspicious.

What the author describes of prison life in Thailand is definitely inhumane. While there was a lot of physical torture, it seemed that the mental torture was what drove prisoners over the edge. The book kept me reading as I was anticipating a climax to the book that never really came. By the title of the book alone, any reader knows the ending. In the end of the book, the author talks about how no one should have to go though this. While I do have sympathy for the author, if I am scared to go to prison in a certain country, I do not commit a crime in that country, as simple as that.

The book is a quick read and I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in foreign prison life. I felt the book was just average. If you are bored and need something different to read, by all means pick it up. If you are looking for a white knuckle, on the edge of your seat experience, I'd recommend something else.