COVID-19 sweeps through Thailand's overcrowded prisons
29 May, 2021
A good coronavirus surge sweeping through Thailand's prisons has thrown the spotlight on the kingdom's overcrowded penal program, where some inmates have less space to sleeping than the inside of a coffin.
A lot more than 22,000 persons have tested positive inside jails, where inmates living cheek by jowl have been encouraged to hold wearing their masks whilst they sleep.
Authorities have floated plans to provide early releases to prisoners with underlying medical ailments and have announced financing for more tests and medical care in recent days.
But those behind bars state they have already been kept at night about the seriousness of the outbreak.
"Prisoners don't have the knowledge to safeguard themselves," explained Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, a high-account activist facing expenses under Thailand's tough royal defamation law.
Somyot was first bailed last month and told AFP that he previously not been tested for COVID-19 once during his 10-week stint in custody.
He was not concerned about contracting the disease while in jail because he previously no idea about the level of risk.
"But following this I'm so scared (for everybody still inside) ... when you are inside prison you are at risk, it's unavoidable," he said.
Thailand's prison outbreak features skyrocketed from just 10 publicly announced cases per month ago and sparked developing community concern after a handful of prominent activists contracted the condition.
Included in this was student head Panusaya "Rung" Sithijirawattanakul, who helped lead a number of rallies last year challenging political reforms in the kingdom, and who tested confident after she premiered on bail.
"LESS ROOM THAN A COFFIN"
The Thai prison population stood at around 311,000 earlier this season, the International Federation for Individual Rights said - more than two-and-a-half times the system's official capacity.
Four inmates atlanta divorce attorneys five are serving period for drug charges due to harsh anti-narcotics laws and regulations that may see offenders jailed for ten years for possessing just a few methamphetamine pills.
Various cells are so filled with bodies that some inmates sole have half a metre of space.
"That's less room for a good body than the within a good coffin," Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin told local mass media in February.
Officials have tested a lot more than 36,000 inmates found in latest weeks and begun delivering COVID-19 vaccines to inmates and prison staff.
Somsak said he was examining methods to give early on releases to prisoners with underlying medical ailments, possibly through a good royal pardon.
Even if the program goes in advance, prisoners will still need to complete a quarantine just before returning home.
"For us to bail anyone or perhaps do anything, it should be done properly," Somsak told reporters on Monday. "We can not allow them to spread infections."
Rights groups state the plan should go further and urged authorities to also free non-violent offenders to be able to reduce overcrowding.
"Authorities should decrease the detainee population... of those kept on politically motivated fees or for minimal offences," stated Brad Adams of Human Rights Check out.
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