Department of Corrections (Thailand)

The Department of Corrections (Thai: กรมราชทัณฑ์) is an agency of the Thai Ministry of Justice. Its mission is to keep prisoners in custody and rehabilitate them.[1] Its headquarters is in Suanyai Sub-district, Mueang Nonthaburi District, Nonthaburi Province.[2] As of 2018, Police Colonel Narat Sawatanan is director-general of the department.[3]

Prisons and prison population

Chiang Mai Women's Correctional Institution
  • Despite its population of only 70 million, Thailand ranks sixth in the world in prison population.[4]
  • Thailand's female incarceration rate is the world's highest at 66.4 female convicts per 100,000 inhabitants.[5][6]
  • The department manages 144 central prisons, provincial prisons, district prisons and other correctional facilities across Thailand,[7] housing some 45,796 female (13.7 percent) and 288,483 male prisoners. The official capacity of all Thai prisons is 217,000 (as of September 2015).[8] Various remedies have been put forth to lower the prison population. Among them are: fines in lieu of prison time; community service in lieu of fines; ankle monitor home confinement; decriminalization of marijuana; more suspended sentences.[4]
  • Overcrowded prisons result in meager food rations for inmates. The prison food and cooking gas budget in place since 2013 is 49 baht per day per inmate, but is capped at an average prison population of 190,200, far fewer than the more than 350,000 inmates held in June 2018. Many prisoners find it hard live on only state-provided food so, if they can afford it, they are permitted to spend up to 300 baht per day in prison shops.[9]
  • Eight of Thailand's prisons have all-female inmate populations. The remaining prisons have both male and female inmates, kept segregated in separate zones. Transsexuals number about 4,500 in Thai prisons.[3] They are housed with male inmates, but some have separate sleeping quarters.[10][3]
  • More than half of those incarcerated are there for an "offence against narcotics law".[11]
  • Foreigners accounted for 4.6 percent of the prison population (September 2016).[8]
  • In 2018, the DOC signed an agreement with Krung Thai Bank (KTB) to provide bank accounts to prisoners. In a trial run, up to 10,000 prisoners will be permitted to use KTB accounts for ATM withdrawals and e-banking. If successful, the program will be rolled out to all prisons. Until now, prison wardens have managed deposits from relatives of prisoners, enabling them to buy items ranging from soap to snacks at prison shops. The new program will remove wardens from inmate financial transactions, as some wardens have been accused of siphoning money from prisoner accounts. In one case, it is alleged that a 500 baht commission was taken by prison management from a 3,000 baht transaction.[12]

Facilities

Bang Kwang houses Thailand's death row for men and execution chamber.[13] The Klong Prem (Lard Yao) section for women houses female death row inmates.[14][15]

LGBT facility

The Department of Corrections is moving towards separating lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) prisoners from other prisoners to ensure their safety and security. Min Buri Prison will be used as a prison for LGBT prisoners under a pilot scheme. There are 4,448 prisoners self-identified as LGBT: 2,258 females, 2,156 males, and 34 transgender individuals. LGBT inmates account for about one percent of Thailand's total of 300,000 prisoners.[16]

Death penalty

Thailand, as of 2018, is one of 58 nations that retain the death penalty. Of the 10 ASEAN nations, only Cambodia and the Philippines have outlawed it.[17]

Thailand retains the death penalty, but rarely employs it. Since 1935 Thailand has executed 326 persons, 319 by firing squad (the last was shot on 11 December 2003), and seven by lethal injection, the latest on 18 June 2018. As of March 2018 510 persons remain on death row.[18] Bang Khwang Central Prison contains the nation's primary Death Row, but Death Rows exist in provincial prisons, for both men and women.[17]

Thai public opinion on the death penalty is unclear. A 2014 survey reported that only eight percent of the population favored its abolition. Another survey indicated that 41 percent wanted to retain the death penalty as a sentencing option.[17] Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has said that the death penalty is necessary to maintain peace and order and deter severe crimes in spite of general acknowledgement that the possibility of execution does not serve to deter crime.[18]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Vision & Mission". Department of Corrections. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  2. ↑ "Contact Us". Department of Corrections, Ministry of Justice. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Mahavongtrakul, Melalin (24 September 2018). "Double Jeopardy". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  4. 1 2 Rojanaphruk, Pravit (3 June 2018). "Thai Prisons Bursting at Seams, Reforms Needed: Panel". Khaosod English. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  5. ↑ Walmsley, Roy. "World Female Imprisonment List" (PDF). World Prison Brief (WPB) (3rd ed.). Institute for Criminal Policy Research (ICPR). p. 2. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  6. ↑ Ekachai, Sanitsuda (10 September 2018). "Ex-inmates find door to freedom closed" (Opinion). Bangkok Post. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  7. ↑ "Prisons and Correctional Institutions". Department of Corrections. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 "Thailand". World Prison Brief (WPB). Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  9. ↑ Thamnukasetchai, Piyanuch (11 June 2018). "Food budget for prisons runs out mid-year". The Nation. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  10. ↑ Laohong, King-Oua (11 December 2017). "Guard fingered in prison sex scandal". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  11. ↑ "Number of Convicted Prisoners, by Type of Offences [sic]". Department of Corrections. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  12. ↑ Laohong, King-Oua (27 September 2018). "Prisoners to get bank accounts". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  13. ↑ Wongruang, Piyaporn.When the Killing Hour Arrives Archived July 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine." (Page 2). Bangkok Post. 30 August 2009. Retrieved on 4 July 2016. Former URL
  14. ↑ Joseph, Joanne; Goosen, Vanessa (2013). Drug Muled: Sixteen Years in a Thai Prison. MF Joberg. ISBN 9781920601201. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  15. ↑ Rao, Nathan. "My despair at the Peru two." The Daily Mail. August 30, 2013. Retrieved on July 4, 2016. "Sandra, 48, was initially handed the death sentence[...] Her sentence was reduced to life, which in Thailand is 99.9 years, before being commuted to 25 years in the notorious Lard Yao jail, dubbed the Bangkok Hilton."
  16. ↑ Laohong, King-Oua (6 July 2016). "Separate LGBT jails on cards". Bangkok Post. Archived from the original on 9 July 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  17. 1 2 3 "Debating the Death Penalty" (Opinion). Bangkok Post. 20 June 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  18. 1 2 "Death penalty 'here to stay'". Bangkok Post. 20 June 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.


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