受刑者の下水管掃除復活　コロナで中止２年ぶり　タイ首都

【バンコクＡＦＰ＝時事】タイの首都バンコクで、受刑者が汚物にまみれながら、２年ぶりの下水管掃除に精を出す。手には汚物であふれんばかりになったバケツを持っている。（写真はバンコクで下水管を掃除する受刑者）
　海抜わずか１．５メートルのバンコクでは、洪水が頻繁に起こる。新型コロナウイルスのパンデミック（世界的な大流行）以前は、排水が滞らないようにするための下水管掃除に受刑者が動員されていた。
　だが、新型コロナ感染拡大の懸念から、パンデミック後は市当局が下水管掃除を行っていた。
　ある受刑者（３３）は「すごく大変で、疲れる仕事だ」「臭いがひどい」と語った。水色の野球帽と紺色の作業着を着た受刑者は「それでもこの作業をしたい。そうすれば、早く家に戻って家族に会える」と述べた。
　バンコク東郊での下水管掃除のため、３か所の刑務所から約８０人が駆り出された。１日作業すると刑期が１日短縮され、賃金も支払われる。
　コンクリート製のふたを開け、胴長と作業用手袋を着用した受刑者が下りて行く。汚れをかき集め、大きな鉄製のたらいに入れる。
　一日中続く作業は、店の前の下水管がついにきれいになったと喜ぶ店主らの寄付によって支えられている。
　匿名で取材に応じたバンコク特別刑務所の看守によると、受刑者が下水管掃除をしたのは新型コロナの流行以来、初めて。
　かつて「東洋のベネチア」とうたわれたバンコクは、７～１０月の雨期の間、洪水に悩まされている。
　バンコク都庁の担当者は「雨期の初めに清掃を増やすことで、下水管（の排水）がよくなる」と説明した。
　ある受刑者は、下水管掃除が過去に対する償いのような気持ちになっていると話す。「わたしたちは過ちを犯して刑務所に入った」「外に出て社会支援ができ、とても良い気分だ」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/07/01-14:10）

Flecked with sewage, a Thai prisoner grapples with an overflowing bucket as he and his fellow inmates clean Bangkok's congested drains for the first time in two years.
Pre-pandemic, convicts could volunteer to clear the sewers of Thailand's capital -- which sits only 1.5 metres (five feet) above sea level and is perennially beset by flooding -- earning time off their sentences.
But fears of spreading the virus meant the gutter-diving work has been done by city authorities and workers, until now.
It is a pretty tough and exhausting job, said one 33-year-old prisoner, who was not permitted to give his name, adding -- not unsurprisingly -- that the work was smelly.
He is one of roughly 80 inmates shipped in from three prisons to an eastern Bangkok suburb and set to labour, earning money and a day off their sentences for each day worked.
I still want to do this job, so I can return home to my family earlier, explained the man, wearing a bright blue baseball cap and a dark blue prison uniform.
After hauling up the concrete slabs covering the drains, the inmates -- wearing protective waders and heavy-duty gloves -- drop down and scrabble out the grime, filling large iron tubs with stinking slop.
They work through the day, fuelled by donations from grateful shopkeepers pleased to see the drains outside their stores finally cleared.
This is the first time since the pandemic that the drains have been cleared by prisoners, said a Bangkok Remand Prison guard, who declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the press.
Once dubbed the Venice of the East, the capital endures flooding during the rainy season -- from roughly July to October -- with backed-up drains contributing.
The increased cleaning when the rainy season starts will help the drains (remove water) quicker, said a Bangkok Metropolitan Administration official.
And for at least one of the prisoners, who had less than a year remaining to serve, cleaning the sewers helped him feel better about his past.
We have made mistakes in life so we end up in jail, he said. Having a chance to come out and help the public makes me feel very good.