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HUMAN RIGHTS FOR EACH PERSON REGARDLESS OF AGE, RACE, RELIGION OR POLITICS
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Kay crusades for families behind bars
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STACEY MCCABE -
12/06/2008 4:19:00 PM
ON A MISSION: Families Behind Bars author Kay Danes.
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STORIES of families experiencing the trauma of having loved ones detained in foreign prisons are explored in Wellington Point resident Kay Danes’ new book Families Behind Bars.
The book aims to raise awareness that tragedy can strike a family at any time, which is what happened to Kay’s family when she and her husband Kerry were wrongfully imprisoned in Laos in 2000.
After accepting positions as managers of an international security firm, Kay and Kerry, with their three children, then aged 7, 11 and 14, left to work in Laos.
There they provided security for 75 international clients, one of which was a gem mining company accused of sapphire smuggling.
This accusation was the reason for Kay and Kerry’s detainment in Phonthong Prison for 10 months.
Caught in a dispute between the client and the Laotian Government, Kay and Kerry’s nightmare began on December 23, 2000, after which their children were evacuated from the country and cared for by Kay’s parents at Birkdale.
Kay and Kerry were interrogated, beaten and tortured.
Kay said in prison she witnessed suffering in appalling conditions.
“They thought they could take two Australians and no-one would care. They didn’t realise my husband had spent the last 20 years in defence and we were known to our embassy,” Kay said.
Back home, Kay and Kerry’s family were struggling to come to terms with their loved ones’ incarceration.
Following a year-long battle, the Australian Government proved Kay and Kerry’s innocence and they returned home on November 9, 2001.
Kay then began to look at ways to help other families and the political prisoners left behind in foreign lands.
Learning of the Foreign Prisoner Support Service, www.foreignprisoners.com, run by Tony Fox of Brisbane, Kay came into contact with many families who were going through similar ordeals to hers.
Families Behind Bars details these people’s stories.
“People don’t think about the families. They just think the prisoner must be guilty,” Kay said.
“A mother might have done her best to raise her son and now he is sitting on death row in Indonesia. Mum blames herself.
“I want people to know what families go through and turn everything bad that happened to us into a positive by helping other people.”
Families Behind Bars is published by New Holland Publishers and priced at $29.95.
The book will be launched at Angus & Robertson Bookstore, Capalaba Central Shopping Centre, on Saturday, June 21, from 10.30am to 1pm.
Come along and meet Kay and chat to her about her experiences.
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| Readers Comments
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This promises to be a very interesting book. Kay works behind the scenes and gets into the nitty gritty where few dare to tread. I like the theme of this book, as it will address the effects of death penalty. Unfortunately death penalty throws the entire family of the prisoner into a psychological hell. Everyone suffers as there is no hope or redemption. From what I understand this book will also scare the living heck out of any young Australian contemplating becoming a 'drug mule' in SE Asia. The money is lousy anyway. The AFP are onto you and will dob you straight in. And the prisons are harsh and full of disease, rats, insects, stench, noise and violence. That will be your life, young dudes. And of coarse, some prisoners consistently say they are innocent anyway. Could there be one in this book...? What I most appreciate however are individuals like Kay Danes who demand the guilty or incarcerated be treated as humans too. That the guilty be not starved, bashed, tortured, raped, killed "because they are guilty". How we want them punished says so much about us.
Posted by Murray on 12/06/2008 8:51:20 PM
Families Behind Bars is not a book that is about excusing crime. It is a book however, that attempts to address some of the complex issues faced when confronting the legal systems and jails in countries that can be very different from our own. Kay tells it as it is. We read, for example of a young drug mule languishing in a Bali prison. The sentence for drug trafficking in Asian countries is severe carrying life inmprisonment or the death penalty. We are confronted by both the complexity and awful stark simplicity of the situation. Wrong choices. Heart-broken families. Destroyed lives. And perhaps the worst thing about it being that the person who committed the crime was not a hardened criminal. Nobodies life is merely a "case" for others to learn from but I would hope that some of the stories in this book would deter others from making the same terrible mistake that others have learned the hard way. Kay Danes brings a sensitivity and experience to this field that I imagine would be invaluable to the individuals accused of crimes in foreign lands and their families, who suffer alongside them.
Posted by Catherine on 12/06/2008 11:41:19 PM
Can't wait to read this book. I look forward to hearing a different side to the stories. The pain these families go through must be unimaginable. It has already been said, but most of these kids are not "hardened criminals" with no hope of rehabilitation. They simply made a very stupid mistake.
Posted by Jacqui on 13/06/2008 3:18:05 PM
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