JAMES TAM  谭炳昌

At Fan Tong, the Common Room, it took just a few minutes for my confidence, self esteem, judgement, and orientation to shatter...... It's a dreamland for people watching though. The perpetual circulation of inmates reminds me of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a Jack Nicholson Classic.

Do they mean to frame and jail innocent people? Don’t think so. They probably think they’re doing the right thing, if they bother to think at all. It’s only a job, a game with simple rules for simple people to play out their assigned roles in a world they don’t understand, but too lazy or afraid to ponder. Forgive them, or turn into ashes before 27 May 2014 — a simple choice.

As I worry about security and safety in HongKong's worst hellhole, more guards show up. Don’t know how many. The silence tells me there are more than one. Unlike the duty officer, their steps are light, purposeful, and ominous. Without a word, the gate is opened. Without a word, they leave. Quietness resumes, punctuated by caterwauling, humans snoring, and the roaring of my internal furnace stoked up afresh by volatile adrenalin and dark energy.

Prison is not at all like what I had imagined

The learned judge looks fancy today, donning a yellowish springy peruke, looking like an emoji. The gallery quiets down. Everyone stands.

Flower Lounge is 'prison' in Triad parlance. It's a true story, but a story after all. It focuses on my experience as a prisoner from the moment of conviction to eventual discharge & how I responded to the abrupt transition physically and emotionally. I've also shared selected stories of the inmates and guards, as well as some lighthearted moments. Flower Lounge made me rethink the judiciary traditions from a different angle, and the delusive nature of freedom and justice.