Justice Ministry enhances COVID-19 measures in prisons

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Justice Ministry enhances COVID-19 measures in prisons

Tanakorn Sangiam

 

 

BANGKOK (NNT) - Overcrowding in prisons poses a high risk of COVID-19 transmission. The Ministry of Justice has now ordered a suspension of visits at 121 prisons across the country to protect inmates from the disease, while discussing with the Supreme Court the release of inmates convicted of less serious crimes, and inmates on parole as quickly as possible to reduce crowding.

 

The Minister of Justice Somsak Thepsuthin, on his first day in new office, announced the Ministry of Justice’s policy on disease control measures in prisons, which will involve the release of some inmates due for parole or amnesty, pending a discussion with the President of the Supreme Court.

 

If approved, some 20,000 such inmates will be released to help reduce crowding at correctional facilities, where family visits and inmate transfers have been suspended.

 

Officials from the Department of Corrections are instructed to monitor their health, and refrain from traveling or visiting at-risk areas without a permit from their superiors. Teams of public health volunteers have been formed at each prison to screen for inmates with suspicious symptoms.

 

All incoming inmates must be quarantined during their first 14 days in the prison, while outgoing inmates must also be isolated for 14 days before release. All prisons are instructed to notify their hub hospital should they find inmates falling ill in groups.

 

Foreign inmates will be transferred into separate facilities, where they will be quarantined for 14 days according to the incoming inmates protocol. The two prisons now receiving the biggest number of incoming foreign inmates are Kanchanaburi Prison with 28 new foreign inmates, and Phuket Prison with 27 new foreign inmates.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2020-12-27

 

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