In Laos, there are four categories of prisoners: In 2000–2001, Phonthong Prison received media attention when Australians Kerry and Kay Danes were incarcerated and sentenced to seven years for embezzlement, tax evasion, and destruction of evidence.
In August 2008, Briton Samantha Orobator was arrested with 680 grams of heroin and became pregnant while in Phonthong.
[3] Lao law prescribed the death penalty for drug smuggling, but Orobator avoided this sentence due to her pregnancy.
In August 2009, she was repatriated to the UK to serve the balance of her sentence.
[4][5] The England and Wales High Court ruled that she had not suffered a "flagrant denial of justice".