I was arrested and locked up by the Malaysian immigration in a 11x8 Cell with 50 other people for a month. AMA.

Sounds like a brutal month, glad you are safe now.

1. What was going through your head when you initially got arrested? (Like, this is nothing big, company will sort it out in no time)
2. How about when you saw the cell for the first time?
3. Did you know how long you would be there?
4. Worst thing you saw while imprisoned?

Thanks for your kind words.

1. My head was spinning in different directions, I had never been arrested or even went to a police station before in my life. I have to say that was the scariest moment of my life.

2. The first thing I felt before I even saw the cell was the dreadful smell of BO, the cell itself was another case. There were no beds or mats or anything to sleep on. Just an elevated platform made of wood that covered half the room and a marble floor, both spaces were filled up with inmates.

3. No idea how long I was going to be there, which is the worst thing. No one was allowed any phone calls and no one tells you how your case is going. So I had no clue most of the time.

4. Worst thing I saw was this elderly Bangladeshi inmate who had severe stomach pain, he was rolling on the floor crying in pain. When we called the prison guard, he said " Let him die, the only way he leaves this cell is in a body bag" and just walked away after that leaving us all speechless.

I live in Singapore. Just wanted to ask:

• Where were you detained from? An immigration booth or arrested in the country itself?
• What was the food like in there?
• The sanitation? Were you supposed to go to the loo in the crammed cell?
• Were you allowed some contact to anyone like a Lawyer or your family?

Lastly, I am sorry about your ordeal. I have been kept a day at the border when I was a kid because my Passport had expired. I can assure you, doing squats as punishment whenI kept asking questions was not fun.

Thanks man. Here are the answers to your questions.

1. I was arrested at my workplace.

2. We had three meals. White rice, fried fish and some curry for lunch and dinner. Bread and tea for breakfast.

3. Sanitation was really bad, imagine 50 people using a single functional squat toilet. During the first couple of days I held my poo in because I didn't want to poo in that loo. I had to cave in to nature at the end.

4. We weren't allowed to call anyone. No one is allowed phone calls and they won't appoint anyone to represent you. So basically you are at the mercy of their judges. Some people write numbers on the food packets so that released inmates can call their relatives. Luckily I contacted my friends before they processed me.

Was there toilet paper? Showers?

How did you contact you friends?

edit: read through some more Q&As. The answers are most definitely no.. and no.

ahah toilet paper, I am glad we even had a functional toilet. I contacted my friends before I got processed, luckily I still had my phone at the time so I used whatsapp.

Edit: There was one functional shower. The whole toilet area is at the back of the cell so there were two squatters and two showers, one of each was functional.

What were the prison guards like? Did they treat the inmates well?

The prison guards were the worst. I mean there were a couple of good ones here and there, but they were mostly corrupt. They would call inmates animals, slap us around for trivial reasons, punch us if we didn't listen to what they said. One guy was clearly bruised from top to bottom after he got a beating when he was arrested. Since there is no oversight or accountability, they have a carte blanche to act as they like.

The worst part though is the corruption, when inmates get processed they are asked to pay 100 RM (30 USD) or 50 RM(15 USD) depending on how much they have in their wallets, for a bar of soap, toothpaste and medicine if needed which costs like 5 RM(1.5 USD) the guards pocket the rest. God forbid you get sick, If you need medicine you are lucky if you get any.

When getting deported, the inmates have to pay for the flights. If the inmates don't have any money, They stay in camps and prisons indefinitely. Those who have money, have to go through immigration officers, which ask for a 500 RM ( 170 USD) commission for every single ticket. If you try to get your ticket from outside through a friend your process will be slowed down to teach other inmates a lesson.

It is an extremely corrupt system that takes advantage of poor immigrant workers, most of them loose all their savings to immigration officers.

So what did the company do after your release? Did they compensate you for going through hell? Can you sue them? Did they let you keep your job? I am sure in that month of hell you are not to happy with them.

Nah, the company already paid a fine. I kind of came to peace with what happened. I learnt to appreciate freedom and also the way those poor inmates were treated gave me a new perspective in life.

Well your a better person than me, did they at-least pay you your salary for the month you had to suffer?

Nope.

Are you SURE you work for a company?

They weren't that big of a company. More of a small business, which is why there was no point in suing them or asking them for pay. I am lucky enough they even managed to pay the fine.

Obvious 1st question would be: "Why did they arrest you?"

Was working before my company filed my work permit papers.

Ah. Oops. Bit shitty they held you for a month though.

Yeah, my employees had a huge fine slapped on them. Had to wait till they paid it.

Wait a second. So are you saying that you would have been allowed to leave once the company paid the fine? And that your employer proceeded to let you sit in jail for a month?

Yes, that is exactly what happened. I paid my fine but was still forced to stay according to some law that said both parties had to pay. My company stalled and asked for a lower fine while I was in jail for a month. They were still allowed to function and make money, so they literally had no incentive to pay. I just sat there and waited until they paid.

Did the company not contact the authorities? You should sue the company for not acting quicker and causing your arrest.

I am not even in Malaysia, can't really do anything from where I am. Suing them also requires money which I don't have. I just want to move past this whole ordeal and not go through it again.

DON'T BE STUPID. FIND A LAWYER.

Sadly, Malaysia isn't the country where fairness and justice prevail. If you are not Malaysian forget getting a fair day in court. Not even mentioning the fact that I am African, which means there is no way in hell they will let me win against a local.

How has this changed you mentally? Or has it done any damage to your view on things?

It has given me mental strength and an patience. It has made me understand the importance of things that I took for granted in the past. This experience didn't make me hateful it made me more compassionate. The things we went through in that cell, we went through together as human beings regardless of where we were from. Nothing is stronger than the bonds we had. I have to say this whole experience gave me a whole different positive outlook on life.

That's really unfortunate that that happened to you. What was the most messed up thing you saw in that month?

I have to say it wasn't a thing, but an inmate. There was a 13 year old Burmese refugee that was locked up with us and was still locked up when I left. He had no one helping him on the outside, didn't speak any language, used to cry every single day and scream " mama, mama" to this day his cries and screams are stuck with me. I just still can't believe that they locked up a 13 year old.

Yikes. That's terrible. How did he not get trampled? (serious)

Other inmates helped make sure he stayed alive. Some gave him portions of their food. Play games with him and stuff. We knew the poor kid was suffering so we made sure he was protected.

Can you not bribe them to get the kid released?

Nope, none of us had access to money. We only have access to our money, if we are getting released or paying for deportation tickets.

That's really awful. How do you feel about Malaysia these days?

I feel sad, knowing that people are getting treated worst than animals as we speak. Knowing that there is nothing I can do to help them, just frustrates me on a daily basis.

I would immediately start writing a book about your experience, I am certain a lot of people would want to read about your experience. I am very happy you are ok and your story helps me appreciate my life more.

I am sorry for your month, but I am amazed how wonderful your prespective is. Good to know!

ahaha, you think so? Who would want to read my book?

You were stuck in a room with 50 people for a month , you committed no crime. I am certain people would want to read how your story made you a better person with a better outlook then when you went in. Most people bitch all day long about a broken nail or a flat tire, never realizing how wonderful their lives are.

Trust me someone would want to read this book.

I am glad you think my story matters. Sadly, I live in third world country in Africa, don't have access to publishing houses or anyone else that could help me with something like that.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2014/04/25/how-to-self-publish-your-book-through-amazon/

Supposedly it's free to publish and Amazon simply takes a portion of the sale price. Never tried it, but it seems like a free way to get your story out there. I'd read it. Would pay $5US.

Interesting, I do have a lot of stories. I have to find out if there is demand besides you guys though.

There's always interest in stories like this, people want to know about the injustices in the world and hear/read about first hand experiences.

Maybe there are some redditors around who have experience with publishing/marketing and the like who can help you out. Maybe ask around on the /r/writing, if they have ideas.

I'm happy to hear you came out of it stronger, but I can only dread for all of the people still stuck in that hellhole with little chance of getting out, especially that one kid you spoke about.

Yup, will make a post about it in /r/writing. Hopefully they could help. Thanks brah.

I would!

Not if you poison me brah.

What is your nationality? What language was everyone speaking? Did you understand it? Were you treated differently because you were not a local?

I would like to keep my nationality private, most of the inmates were from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan or Indonesia.

I speak many languages, so I was lucky in the sense that I could communicate in Urdu, Malay or even Arabic when necessary. I was respected because of that.

do you think you were treated worse because of your nationality?

There is an inferiority complex in Malaysia. When immigration officers stop and ask people in the streets for passports and visas, they only stop dark skinned people ( Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Africans). Caucasians never get stopped or asked for their passports. This not because there aren't any Caucasians who overstay their visas, I personally know a bunch who did, but because they put white people on a pedestal there. Many times my legal friends of color were stopped and asked for their passports and visas in the middle of the street, embarrassing them in front of everyone.

So yeah, the fact that I am an African definitely played a huge part in the way I was treated.

Was it annoying when you saw a new inmate to add to the cramped conditions?

That was the worst part, there was literally no place to sleep. People had to sleep in shifts. They had no problems piling us on top of each other like we were sheep.

If they hadn't blacklisted you from returning, would you go back?

Not sure, I mean what I saw in that cell was pretty horrible and will remain with me forever. On the other hand, I have some great friends there so I might have. That's a tough one.

I saw somewhere in the questions a suggestion to write a book. I would highly recommend it. What you need to do is find an agent. Send out a thousand emails with your story and your book idea. You'll find someone who will get you a publishing deal.

Yeah, never thought about it until now. Not sure how to get an agent here in Africa. Will probably google it or something.

I'm sorry this happened to you. I have a few questions for you:
1. What is your nationality? How come your embassy didn't provide any assistance (your employer should immediately notify them)?
2. How come your employer didn't expedite the process and ask them to release you?
3. Is your employer a local or MNC?
4. Where did you get arrested? Kuala Lumpur?

1. I come from a third world country, so consular assistance is non-existent.

2. My employer was trying to negotiate a smaller fine and I was stuck because of that. Funny thing is I paid my fine, but the immigration said both parties have to pay. So I was stuck for 3 weeks and a half waiting for my employee to pay.

3. Local

4. Kuala Lumpur

you seem to be from Pakistan?

Nah, I am African buddy.

Cool. Its amazing that you know Urdu then!

Yeah, I guess it is. Thanks buddy.

I have no talent for languages... would it be considered an "easy" language to learn? (I know jack shit about Africa, so I can only imagine the sheer number of dialects throughout the villages...)

I was exposed to it during high school when I lived in the middle east.

Did you make any friends?

Yeah, many friends. The people inside were average workers trying to make a living. Most of them were really nice, especially when they found out I speak their language. They invited me to their homes, they told me stories. It was a very friendly environment.

We had some fun moments, like the time a Burmese 19 year old refugee was arm wrestling with a 26 year old Nigerian. The Nigerian didn't win.

I was asking because prison in the US you tend to make quite a bit of friends and was wondering the comparison on that level. That's great to hear man, I'm happy for you!! Thanks for responding, I wish you many good times to come, this was just a speed bump.

Thanks buddy. It was a speed bump, learnt a lot from it.

How did they fit 50 people in such a small cell?

They didn't, most had no place to sleep. Most slept next to the toilet, which meant the they slept on the dirty water that seeped from the toilet. Some slept in shifts.

where you kept in that ancient looking prison you can see from the monorail in KL?

Nah, I hope I had a view for that month. I was locked up in a basement somewhere in Putrajaya. Never was allowed to leave the cell unless it was for a lawyer or a visit, which meant I only left my cell like 4 or 5 times in that month.

There was this meth addict who was locked up for 45 days and was still there when I left. He left the cell only once.

did anyone tried to make a move on you as in tried to rape you or ask you for sexual favor ? did you see any action of this nature happening in the cell ?

Funnily enough none of that stuff happened, the cell was predominantly Muslim. So most inmates were pretty conservative. The fact that there wasn't any butt sex space didn't help either.

I am reading Unbroken for school right now, this reminds me a lot of a Japanese POW camp.

Haven't heard of it.

would you say that people should avoid the place as a rule or are there some specific cultural points that would allow a safe trip? Also what do you think your government should do about this sort of treatment of prisoners?

Malaysia has it's good and it's bad like any other place. The treatment of prisoners is extremely bad though. They don't have any understanding of basic human rights.

I know you said you won't sue the company, but here is why you should. It took them 30 days to free you. It looks like they didn't even call the authorities to assist. They were did not do their due diligence when sending employees to overseas countries for work. All of this shows this may happen to someone else, if it hasn't happened already. They need to be shut down for the publics safety.

To be honest where I am right now, I don't have the means to sue anyone. I didn't come from overseas for the job either, I was in the country when I applied for it. I am at fault as well for not pushing them hard enough to file the papers in time.

Was there any violent moments between inmates? If yes, what caused those moments?

There were a couple of scuffles here and there nothing major.

[deleted]

Haha nah brah, I am African. Ke sah hai? Bil kul acha?

Deleted accidently, Main acha hoon bhaai Urdu achi boltay ho. Acha laga sun kar kay ap safe ho.

Shukriya bhai.

I pity your experiences. I live in Singapore and have been to KL close to 10 times- this story strikes me close to heart sometimes. Here are my questions:

1. What was your opinion of Malaysia before you got imprisoned?
2. Do you have a similar bad opinion now of other countries (like Singapore) or is it just M'sia?

I liked the place, I had a lot of friends. Still think the place is great, but sadly the people that run the country have no sense of decency or any respect towards human beings. So it's a mixed feeling kind of situation.

Nah, don't really know much about Singapore, only been there once. Can't make a judgement on that one buddy.

were you labeled prisoner 29, or were the usernames throawayprisoner 1-28 taken?

I think they were taken. Way too many throwaway prisoners out there.

So, you are taking shower in the locker room with other inmates. You drop the soap. My question is, knowing that men are very territorial animals , how do you catch the soap without having a surprise ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ??

I am African, so I was slightly bigger than most of the inmates who were Asian. Nothing happened when I dropped the soap.