Daniel Sancho was probably delighted after being sent to Koh Samui prison, where he was remanded after being convicted of murdering and dismembering a plastic surgeon.
Described locally as a “big kindergarten for adults,” the prison on Thailand’s famous party island houses only a few hundred people, many of them Westerners, who are treated with relative respect and kindness.
But Sacho, the YouTube chef-turned-murderer, soon arrived in Koh Samui. He was transferred to the hell that is Surat Thani just 12 months later.
With 5,400 prisoners to house and feed, more than ten times the population of Koh Samui, Surat Thani has twice as many prisoners as it should.
The sheer number of people held within the walls creates a litany of unsolvable things for the prisoners, almost all of whom remain there for life for committing violent crimes like Daniel’s.
Up to 24 prisoners remain in cells for more than 12 hours a day, without exception.
With so many people primed for violence confined to such a small area, security forces are constantly on alert to ensure that the population does not riot. Armed guards constantly raid the prison, leaving stragglers in a perpetual state of paranoia and confusion.
Former inmates interviewed by RTVE, a Spanish broadcaster, said it is common for guards to use batons on prisoners or force them to wear shackles, among other punishments, for fighting or violating rules in many Thai prisons.
Daniel Sancho (pictured, center) found guilty of murdering and dismembering a plastic surgeon
He now resides in Surat Thani Prison (pictured)
With so many people primed for violence confined to such a small area, security forces are constantly on alert to ensure that the population does not riot.
Surat Thani also does not have enough resources to clothe inmates, leaving many of them half naked and shivering, fighting for tattered pieces of clothing.
The situation with the beds is even more serious. No prisoner is given a mattress, which means they have to sleep on towels if they’re lucky, or on the floor if they’re not.
If prisoners and prison guards don’t kill him, the rapid spread of the disease could. Scarce resources and overcrowded cells mean the disease spreads quickly.
One estimate states that there is a 25% mortality rate every two years.
If that weren’t enough, prison officials only allow blood relatives to visit inmates. And with her conflictive relationship with her father, actor Rodolfo Sancho, it is likely that her only contact with the outside world is with her mother, actress Silvia Bronchalo.
Spanish reports claimed that after Daniel’s trial, Rodolfo left Thailand without saying a word.
And who could blame him?
His discovery was guilty of killing and dismembering the body of Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, a 44-year-old Colombian plastic surgeon, and disposing of the parts on land and sea.
Sancho was a YouTube chef, son of two famous Spanish actors.
One estimate states that there is a 25% mortality rate every two years.
The prison houses twice as many inmates as planned.
The two men were on holiday together on the Thai resort island of Koh Pha-ngan in August last year, an area famous for its monthly full moon beach parties, which attract travelers from around the world for nightly raves.
The Koh Samui provincial court handed down an initial death sentence for Sancho, but commuted it to life in prison because of his cooperation during the trial, said Col. Paisan Sangthep, deputy commander of the Surat Thani provincial police.
At his trial on the island of Samui, Sancho claimed he got into a fight with Arrieta for allegedly trying to sexually assault him. He said Arrieta fell while they were fighting and hit his head on a bathtub, losing consciousness and dying.
He had pleaded not guilty to charges of premeditated murder.
On the charge of concealing or damaging a dead body, he received a four-month prison sentence, reduced to two months for acknowledging the act, Paisan said.
He also pleaded not guilty to the charge of destroying another person’s documents (the victim’s passport), for which he was sentenced to two years in prison.
The elements of the case: violent death on a vacation island, the celebrity connections and the gruesome details; It attracted great coverage in the Spanish media.
HBO produced a documentary in Spanish about the events.
Sancho claimed that he got into a fight with Arrieta for allegedly trying to sexually assault him.
A photo provided by the Royal Thai Police shows forensic officers inspecting human body parts they found at a garbage dump on Koh Phangan island, Surat Thani province, southern Thailand, on August 4, 2023.
Spanish actress Silvia Bronchalo, mother of Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, leaves the Koh Samui provincial court in Surat Thani, southern Thailand, Thursday, August 29, 2024.
Rodolfo Sancho, a Spanish actor, walks after a Thai court jailed his son, Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, for life for the notorious murder and dismemberment of a Colombian man last year on the popular tourist island of Koh Phangan, as he leaves the court in Koh Samui, Surat Thani province, Thailand, August 29, 2024
The case came to light when garbage collectors found what the Bangkok Post newspaper described as a severed pelvis and intestines weighing about five kilograms in a sack of fertilizer at a garbage dump.
Shortly afterward, Sancho reported to the police that Mr. Arrieta was missing, and the police gathered evidence linking the two men, leading them to detain and question him.
Police established a narrative, claiming to the press that Sancho had confessed to the murder and had planned it because Arrieta threatened to disgrace him and his family by revealing their alleged sexual relationship.
Sancho, through his father and his lawyers, said it was a distorted version of what he told police and denied having a sexual relationship with Arrieta.