The dark room he was thrown in had a puddle of water and smelt of urine and feces
After the recent report on the court verdict about the human rights violation in the Koror Jail; a man came forward, on a promise of anonymity, to share his story of how 24hrs in a dark room stripped him off his basic human dignity.
This story goes about six years back in time when Sam (pseudonym) was put in a solitary confinement for a violent crime.
When he was taken to the police station, the two guards that knew him personally paraded him around the prison telling other inmates that he was a snitch.
“They [guards] said tia diak kau a mora [no, you’re going to the] dark room. So, I get literally thrown into the dark room”
The dark room he was thrown in had a puddle of water and smelt of urine and feces.
Recalling the night of torment, Sam said, “I hear a voice whispering to me and I’m trying to figure out where its coming from.”
The voice was of an inmate in the other cell who was communicating with him through a hole in the wall.
“The guy tells me to not take a shit in my cell because the last guy that was in my cell took a shit”
Sam’s uncle who was in a position of power managed to pass food to him during his time in isolation.
Sam said that when he passed a can of tuna to the inmate in the other cell, the inmate told him they don’t get fed enough and every one relies on their relatives to bring them food but his relatives hadn’t visited in a long time.
“The prisoners act strange at night. They are calling out for the cops to let them use the bathroom,” Sam said.
In the recent case Suzuki Temael who was kept in a solitary confinement since April and got released recently after the court order, the court gave a statement that suggests a human being, regardless of the crime he has committed, should not be treated as less than a human.
Temael was made to pass the stools in a garbage bag and kept in the solitary confinement without hearing.
Sam said that when the rain falls, the water gets filled up in the prison cells. “The prisoners were yelling out for mops and there were people who were crying too.”
“The guards said tia di ralm kau ke mengol otaol [are you gay, this is just water?] to one prisoner. They were cussing at him and saying that they didn’t care. And, the prisoners who wanted to use the restroom they told them to shut up,” Sam added.
At around midnight, Sam got a cell mate from Ngermid who was high on meth in the dark room because the prison ran out of room to put him in.
There were no beds in the tiny room and the man in his cell sat a foot away because none of them wanted to be around the puddle of what seemed like urine.
When Sam got out of the prison in the morning, he faced medical issues and lost five pounds in one week.
Sam added that press needs to be given access to review the prison facilities and write a report.
Island Times has made several requests to the Director of Public Safety Alloysius Alonz regarding the press access to inmates and prison facilities. The requests have been denied. (By Eshan Kalyanikar)