Jails As Centres Of Crime For Drug Syndicates: Thai Editorial

[webfact]

EDITORIAL

Jails as centres of crime for drug syndicates

The Nation

Drug abuse is widespread in Thai prisons because law enforcement officials are complicit in, and are profiting from, the problem.

BANGKOK: -- The recent "unannounced" search by the authorities at the Nakhon Si Thammarat Central Prison has led to a perhaps not so shocking revelation about what is happening in Thai jails. The authorities in the southern prison uncovered cell phones and gambling equipment as well as 1,700 methamphetamine tablets and one kilo of crystal methamphetamine or "ice".

The search has shown how corrupt the prison system has become. Imprisonment is not only meant to punish criminals, it is meant to re-educate and redeem inmates from the crimes they have committed. Instead, the findings at Nakhon Si Thammarat suggest the opposite is happening. This prison is apparently part of a huge drug network. It has become a place where illegal drug use, considered a serious crime by the Thai authorities, has been allowed to flourish under the noses of security officers.

The news may be quite shocking to some, but will not come as a surprise to many others. In fact, it simply reconfirms the fact that corruption and abuse of power have taken deep root in every corner of our society. The law enforcement officials at the prison have not done their jobs. Worse, many of them shamelessly chose to take bribes. For instance, some inmates have reportedly paid over Bt350,000 to officials to be allowed to have an iPhone for use while behind bars there. The worst cases of abuse are among those correction officers who are suspected to have certain knowledge about the widespread drug abuse at the prison, and the fact that they almost certainly profited from it.

This incident must be addressed head on, without fear or favour of bringing all the accomplices to justice. The removal of a couple of officers to inactive posts will not solve the problem. In fact, we can be certain that Nakhon Si Thammarat Central Prison is not an isolated case where the illegal drug trade was allowed to take place. Moreover, it is suspected that the convict drug gang in Nakhon Si Thammarat Prison has linked up with another gang operating inside a major Bangkok prison to create the country's biggest drug network.

An illegal operation of this scale is likely to involve many people, from both inside and outside the cells. The law enforcement officers who have turned a blind eye to the criminal activities deserve to be behind bars along with the convicts they have been in cahoots with.

In fact, it turns out that the authorities' effort to clamp down on the gang at Nakhon Si Thammarat Prison was compromised because details of the raid were leaked a few hours before the operation. Therefore, there must be a mole inside the security establishment there.

Kudos to Nakhon Si Thammarat police chief, Police Major General Ronapong Saikaew, other police officers and soldiers who took part in the search operation at the prison. First of all, the operation has brought this serious issue to the public's attention. Secondly, these officers have fulfilled their duty to help suppress crime inside the prison.

In addition, these officers have regained some trust from the communities who have been directly affected by widespread drug abuse. Most people in local communities that are badly affected by drug abuse do not want to be whistle-blowers or give the authorities any tip-offs regarding drug crime. This is because many people believe police officers themselves might be part of the drug rings.

After the operation in Nakhon Si Thammarat some local people came out to give flowers to the officers involved in the raid. This should be seen as a good sign that ordinary people can still rely on law enforcement officials and that they can safely provide useful tip-offs whenever they have any information about drug abuse.

This effort must continue in earnest because we cannot allow the prison system to become an active part of Thailand's networks of drug traffickers, who have links to traffickers and producers in neighbouring countries such as Myanmar.

Correction facilities are supposed to be a deterrent against further crime and to provide an opportunity for redemption. They are supposed to reform offenders so that they emerge, after their sentences, as better citizens. We cannot let our correction facilities become centres for serious crime.

-- The Nation 2012-04-26

[noitom]

So when does The Nation stop pontificating and start doing its due diligence and investigative journalism? When does The Nation start tracking down the Mr. Bigs and pulling them in to the limelight with no place to run and no place to hide? When will The Nation become a real newspaper?

[champken]

_{They should start off with going after every prison and police officer that has been found out to have been involved in this and round them up, put them on display in prison uniforms and have them sentenced to 20 years jail time..then launch a nationwide clampdown on corrupt officials with regular arrests and harsh sentences handed out, they should even think about offering incentives to the not corrupt few to anonomously point fingers at the guilty.}

[OzMick]

So when does The Nation stop pontificating and start doing its due diligence and investigative journalism? When does The Nation start tracking down the Mr. Bigs and pulling them in to the limelight with no place to run and no place to hide? When will The Nation become a real newspaper?

Tom, try to understand that investigative journalism does not exist here, for any number of reasons. Your pontificating here will not change that.

Perhaps you could try a letter to the editor..

[OzMick]

Not all the criminals in a prison spend the night in the cells.

[belg]

just check in what cars the guards ride and in what houses they live, if it is anything above their paygrade... not difficult to add 1 + 1

[hellodolly]

Not all the criminals in a prison spend the night in the cells.

About 40 years ago we had a prison riot in the British Columbia Penitentiary started by 7 inmates with a nurse dying as a result.

About 10 years later I was asked to come into a prison and speak with one of the 7 who had started it.

It was interesting. He told me that there was some pretty mean people in there and I said yes I would imagine there is. He then told me he was not talking about the prisoners. He also mentioned that the guards would bring in Weed as it was a money maker and helped keep the prisoners calmer,

It took three years forrrr my brother inside a state penitentiary to kick a heavy drug habit. The poppies were not grown in the prison.

This is not a Thailand only happening. What other countries have we heard about where the prisons were searched by that many people with out some event causing them to come in and do the search.

Try to give them some credit.

[heiwa]

Justice relates to money. The more money you have the less guilty you are and vice versa. This is Thailand. If you don't like it bugger off. Thailand is not going to change for farang. The got a way of doing things around here if you get my drift.

[metisdead]

An inflammatory post has been removed.

[Bagwan]

Not all the criminals in a prison spend the night in the cells.

About 40 years ago we had a prison riot in the British Columbia Penitentiary started by 7 inmates with a nurse dying as a result.

About 10 years later I was asked to come into a prison and speak with one of the 7 who had started it.

It was interesting. He told me that there was some pretty mean people in there and I said yes I would imagine there is. He then told me he was not talking about the prisoners. He also mentioned that the guards would bring in Weed as it was a money maker and helped keep the prisoners calmer,

It took three years forrrr my brother inside a state penitentiary to kick a heavy drug habit. The poppies were not grown in the prison.

This is not a Thailand only happening. What other countries have we heard about where the prisons were searched by that many people with out some event causing them to come in and do the search.

Try to give them some credit.

Just because others may break or ignore laws does not give anybody the right to do so themselves. I have worked in the City of London, a veritable cesspit of fraud, tax avoidance and massive unearned bonuses. A predominent view there was not to harangue thieves but to denigrate them for having the stupidity to be caught at it. Same same Wall Street. I hope that those from the US will agree.

[Bagwan]

Justice relates to money. The more money you have the less guilty you are and vice versa. This is Thailand. If you don't like it bugger off. Thailand is not going to change for farang. The got a way of doing things around here if you get my drift.

Google Ernest Saunders, Patricia Hewitt, Nixon, Clinton ............... Thailand is not unique..