An Eye for an Eye - Death Row in Philippines and Thailand

MUNTINLUPA CITY, METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES - 2004/01/29: United States citizen James Kenneth Nichols, from South Carolina who is aged 37, sits in a cell on death row. He was convicted of marijuana possesion (supposedly 192 grams) in what he claims was a frame-up by a former supposed American friend. Since April 2003 he has been held inside a private cell (which cost him a one time payment of US 3,000) in death row inside the New Bilibid Prison. This is a high security prison with about 10,000 inmates, approximately 1,000 of whom are on death row. Of these 174 have reached the end of their appeals and there sentences of death have been affirmed. They now believe they will die after President Aroyo met with members of the Chinese business community and lifted the moratorium on the death penalty on the 15th December 2004. He is housed in Dorm 1 D with 211 inmates and he has become a member of the BCJ gang. In jails in the Philippines, inmates tend to become members of gangs within the jails and are then kept segregated. (Photo by Gerhard Joren/LightRocket via Getty Images)