Former school director gets 192 years in prison over school lunch scandal

[Purdey]

37 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Every prison has a shop for the inmates.   Bread, marg, jam, canned fish, 3-in-1 coffee sachets (hot water provided by the prison in the mornings), pot noodle and pot rice tubs and many other food items plus small selection of clothing such as shorts  are available.   All prisoners have a prison account opened for them into which visitors can deposit cash up to B9,000 and a card is issued a card for them to use for purchases.  Items that are bought by the prisoners have the cost deducted from the balance of those accounts.

We are talking about two very different things. You appear to be talking about Western prisoners. I have never visited western prisoners, only female Thais, who happen to be very much poorer. 

1. Bread, margarine, jam, canned fish, 3-in-1 coffee sachets etc., are typically for westerners. Yes, there is a prison store for relatives to purchase rice, noodles and Thai foodstuffs. See here https://coconuts.co/bangkok/features/life-behind-bars-ex-prisoners-describe-typical-day-thai-prison/ 

2. The prison food and cooking gas budget since 2013 is 49 baht per day per inmate. Many prisoners find it hard to 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. THB 9,000 baht is the maximum deposit but I never met a prisoner who had a family able to give that amount. Some rural Thai families make just 3,000 Baht a month.

3. Can we compare what this school director did compare to what happens in prison? Prison wardens once managed deposits from relatives of prisoners, enabling them to buy items ranging from soap to snacks at prison shops. This role was later removed from wardens to stop them being involved in inmate financial transactions, as some wardens were 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. Sound familiar? There were no ATMs in the prison I visited. Borrowing money from another prisoner comes with 20% interest.

4. Thai women prisoners are lucky to make 45 Baht per day weaving baskets. They don't have money to buy sanitary pads and are give an arbitrary amount that is not always enough https://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-prison-women-trfn-idUSKBN2861HT This article states that more than half of all inmates receive no family visits so lack the cash to top up.

5. I don't disagree that if they have the money they can deposit it into the prisoner's account. Besides the Reuters article, women I talked to had no money and their families either cut them off or were too poor to help.

6. Most are in prison for dealing drugs. They have long sentences (not just possession which may be 5 years, but one women had a 40 year sentence) and cannot afford lawyers to get their sentences shortened.

What you will not see in a Thai prison holding Western men is how the women fall to their knees at the approach of a guard and face the floor or risk a beating.

I apologize for going on somewhat but unless you have visited a Thai women's prison you cannot compare with what happens to Western men. Thanks for the opportunity to clarify.

[Artisi]

On 10/22/2022 at 2:55 AM, Sparktrader said:

50 years for small lunch?

 

5 to 10 years for murder

 

Crazy

No years for murder if connected....