"A day in Taiwan prison" describes , in brief, how I landed in Taiwan prison and a typical day I spent there for almost 6 months. Journalists welcome to publish it.
A day in Taiwan prison
I still remember the moment when my wife, son and brother came with me to see me off at Indira Gandhi International airport. I was flying to Hongkong to join a container ship M.V. "Kasuga 1". Before I could unpack unpack my bags, on ship, or even phone my wife I found myself being taken to a police station on 7th Feb. and thrown in a Taiwanese prison cell on 8th February, 1996. I had just had breakfast and no other meal on 7th Feb., and I had no food during the day on 8th also. When I was taken to the detention centre at 4.30 pm on 8th Feb. dinner was over but the security man gave me some leftover food.
I was put in prison from 8th Feb. to 26th July,1996. This period was one of the the most horrible times I have ever spent in my life. As a law-abdiding and competent seafarer I never even dreamt of being imprisoned and it was the biggest shock of my life when I realized I was detained. In the prison cell, I had to stay under dismal conditions with chinese convicts (murderers, drug addicts, rapists, smugglers etc) in a very small room (7 feet X 7 feet) and a toilet space of (7 feet X 2 feet) with no freedom of movement and no privacy in toilet. In my clear conscience I could not comprehend what is it that I have done to deserve this treatment. I did not know chinese and other inmates did not know english so I could not talk to anyone. One day I was Captain of a ship and the next day I found myself forced to stay in a small prison cell in an unknown land.
On 6th April,1996 when I came to know that Public Prosecutor has asked District Court to sentence me for more than 7 years, I went through indescribable demoralisation and depression seeing and feeling my life crumbling in a foreign land. I very strongly beleive that I had done nothing to deserve this. I went on a hunger strike in prison, security guards threatened to forcibly feed me but by the grace of God my resolve was so strong that I told the security guards that even if you kill me I will not eat. The Keelung District Court called us for hearing on 9th April,1996 and proposed to release Able Seaman Tandel, that day evening I broke my fast.
We human beings are a bundle of nerves and one tends to compare one's past with the present. I have left my family, wife and child back in my homeland and here I am languishing in a prison cell in a foreign land. The food was horrible and the other four prisoners in my room use to smoke incessantly which I found very difficult to cope with.
The day in the prison starts with the wake up call at 6.40 am with the chinese music which lasted till 7.30am. We were served breakfast by a group of prisioners.Each room had three to four rectangular utensils which were passed through a hole outside to fill them with food. The rice in water , some milk ,half baked bread (Semi-ccoked pau) and some chinees dish made our breakfast . I just tasted the food to wet my tongue.
At 8 am there used to be a roll-call when all prisoners had to sit near the door of their cells. A team of security guards went from one room to another, opened the cell door and one guard called prisoners' number. Each prisoner had to respond by telling his name and when all prisoners had been called the door use to close and guards moved to another room. Prisoners could not move till roll call was finished in all rooms. After roll call prisoners stayed in their rooms chatting with each other or playing mahjong. If weather was clear, then, three to four times in a week, prisoners were taken out to an open area, within prison, for 15 minutes. That time I saw most of the prisoners smoking and chatting with each other. I use to just take a walk and it somewhat gave a feeling of being free.
Lunch was served at 11 a.m. and it consisted of rice, one non-vegeterian dish and two vegetables. The prisoners serving food used to mix vegeterian and non-vegeterian food as most of Taiwanese can eat both. The Food used to be boiled with no salt, chilly or spices. Local prisoners' families use to visit prison, regularily, and bring food.. 5 or 6 food items which were cooked well had to be bought but still the taste was different from our food. I longed to eat Indian food and a few times our agent brought Indian food from ships and that tasted delicious and I ate that food for two days. After eating meal we prisoners used to wash our utensils, which was quite organised. One fellow applying dish washing liquid to utensils, another one washing the dishes in clean water, third fellow wiping them with cloth and another fellow cleaning the wooden floor. The second roll call at 11.40 a.m. ended with lights switched off, to lie down and to wake up at 1.30 pm. My worries and tension annoyed me off my sleep. The local prisoners, generally, had a sound sleep.
The prisioners families were limited in time between 8.15 am to 11 am and from 1.20 pm to 4 pm to visit their dear ones. There was a special place where prisoners were taken from cells to talk to their visitors. There was a transparent glass seperation between prisoner and visitor and phone was used for speaking to each other. Only 5 prisoners could be accommodated at any given time in that room and each prisoner got only 10 minutes to talk to their guests. All the conversations was recorded. Food brought by visitors was first checked by security guards and then handed to prisoners. Our agent Mr Toshi Cheng used to come to see us once in ten days. He is a very nice man and had friendly connections with top officials in Keelung Port Authorities. He use to encourage me by saying that Keelung port officials feel I will be released soon. He also subscribed English newspaper for me but it was delivered by post so I got it after 2-3 days. Sometimes (6-7 times in 6 months) ship's staff, from our company's ships visiting Keelung, came to see us and they brought food and lot of books, magazines. I used to pass my day reading books, newspaper etc. Every day I use to spend an hour writing my journal (diary) and an hour writing a letter. Since I was writing lot of letters, I also received a lot of letters mainly encouraging me not to worry and soon everything will be OK and so on. It was a great feeling to read children writing me not to worry, they are praying to God for my release, everything will be OK etc etc. Those letters are one of the priced possessions of my life and they show the true feeling of near and dear ones who always care for me.
At 4 pm dinner was served, food was similar to lunch but I found difficult to eat an early dinner. At 5 p.m. there was another roll call. At 8.45 p.m. chinese music use to start, songs sung before sleeping I beleive and at 9 pm lights went off and it was bed time. Each prisoner had just about 2 feet x 5 and 1/2 feet space to sleep. I used to lie down but it was very difficult to sleep. There was so much time to sleep but I never could sleep peacefully even for one single day.
I wish with all my heart that no one has to go through this experience. It shakes up one's confidence and lowers one's morale to a devastating degree. If anyone is interested in knowing more about the details of the incident that landed me in this situation that person is welcome to write to me at the address given below. rajgoel@ndb.vsnl.net.in or goel_raj@hotmail.com
Webmaster's Note:
Most people just accept the fact that a Master becomming a scapegoat is just part of the responsibilities that come with the rank! I think that is a very lame excuse! No shore person of this level (incidentally they earn much more than a Master so don't give that crap about the salary compensating!) is put in prison for someone else's mistakes! Any seafarer knows that he / she can do nothing to prevent a ship like the Erika from cracking up, and the Master is definitely not to blame if the 3rd officer end up banging a fishing boat which has the audacity to sail at night without its lights!
If you think there is nothing you can do, that's upto you . However if you feel something MUST be done, just copy the text below, click SEND below and paste the message with your name, designation and nationality. One, ten, twenty mails can be ignored. Two hundred mails cannot! Five hundred bombarding them can make ears pluck up! ( For your information, more than 900 peole saw this webpage between its birth on 5th Jan 2002 to today - Feb 12th 2002!) Sure - at the end nothing may happen....but at least you will have the satisfaction of Having tried !!! Otherwise, don't lament when YOU land up in a foreign prison (every Master knows how close this possibility always hovers!)!!
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Sir / Madam,
I strongly disagree with the present contention that a Master is responsible for ALL mistakes committed by other personnel of his ship or ashore or on other ships, over which he has little or no control - regarding navigation, pollution or similar matters. I strongly condemn putting a Master in Jail for such labelled "offences" - in a foreign country. Human rights and Justice is something which must not be denied to the Master of the ship. The IMO must make stricter rules than Article 97 of Unclos to ensure that a Master is tried only in his own country of domicile. Please help us and the seafaring community before it is too late!!!
