Keeping inmates in Thai prisons connected can be lucrative

[webfact]

Keeping inmates connected can be lucrative
Piyanut Tamnukasetchai
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- THE LUXURY of staying connected to the outside world from behind bars can be very expensive. A mobile phone can cost as much as Bt2.5 million, a spot where the phone signal is not jammed can cost a six-digit figure and inmates may have to pay Bt2,000 per minute for a phone call, it was revealed yesterday.

Deputy Permanent Secretary for Justice Ministry Chanchao Chaiyanukit told a press conference yesterday that 6,703 mobile phones, 1,280 SIM cards, 24,767 yaba pills and 2,839 grams of crystal methamphetamine had been seized in crackdowns in prisons across the nation over the past six months.

The ministry has also taken disciplinary action against 19 prison officials accused of being involved in narcotics - eight of whom were fired, while the rest suspended pending investigation, he said.

Some 10 officials are accused of smuggling cellphones into prisons - one of whom has been sacked.

The ministry has also transferred 59 prison officials - nine of whom were accused of smuggling drugs, six for smuggling mobile phones and 44 others for bringing in prohibited items.

Shooting devices over the fence

The press also heard a report about inmates getting members of their gang to smuggle drugs and cellphones into prison using different means, like tying the item onto an arrow and shooting it across the fence or firing the item into the compound using a slingshot.

Drones that can carry as many as three cellphones and controlled using Google Maps were also used to deliver items. The risks and difficulties of sending things across is believed to be a reason why cellphones can cost as much as Bt2 million to Bt2.5 million behind bars.

Once these cellphones are bought, inmates need to pay the supplier as much as Bt2,000 per minute for call, while the price of being in a spot not covered by the signal-jamming device can be as high as Bt100,000 to Bt200,000.

Inmates also adjusted the small-talk range for mobile phones to between 30 metres and 200m, so conversations can be had using headphones with the actual phone a fair distance away.

It was reported that the longest headphone wire was discovered at Ratchaburi's Khao Bin Prison - a maximum-security facility that housed many notorious drug traffickers.

It was found that payments were often made outside the prison.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Keeping-inmates-connected-can-be-lucrative-30250067.html

-- The Nation 2014-12-18

[puukao]

"The ministry has also transferred 59 prison officials - nine of whom were accused of smuggling drugs, six for smuggling mobile phones and 44 others for bringing in prohibited items."

Ahhh.....when they say "transferred".....shouldn't this mean "ARRESTED"??????

[neverdie]

"The ministry has also transferred 59 prison officials - nine of whom were accused of smuggling drugs, six for smuggling mobile phones and 44 others for bringing in prohibited items."

Ahhh.....when they say "transferred".....shouldn't this mean "ARRESTED"??????

Some of them were probably promoted. Others were probably sent to higher paying positions to help compensate them from the losses they will receive due to lost prison yard sales.

Standard stuff in LOS.

[cgphuket]

I always have trouble believing that an inmate, who couldn't afford to buy his way out of the arrest, or prison, can come up with 2.5 million baht to buy a phone.

[noitom]

This Thai reporter is merely dumping a lot of sound bites and facts about criminal activity in Thai prisons. Yet the Thai writer for this newspaper never pins the corruption and illegal activity on the jail keepers. Obvious;ly the Thai writer musdt know that the 2.5 il price of a phone has humdreds of slices and skims in it, yet they never raise this question. Dhame on the Thai press wqriting this story as if it's some sort of lark event in Thai prisons.

[MAJIC]

The figures for cellphones and making calls are too ridiculous to give too much notice to.And the rich inmates can make themselves quite

comfortable without buying a mobile @ 2.5 million baht and being on mobiles at 2000 baht a minutes!

[NongKhaiKid]

Amazing how the prison authorities never seem to get wind of these activities at an early stage

They apparently wait until something is well established then act and of course present as a major result.

[webfact]

A cellphone which costs 2 million baht in prison



BANGKOK: -- Khao Bin maximum security prison in Ratchaburi has claimed the world’s longest “small talk” cellphone wire which was measured up to 200 metres long and probably the highest cellphone charge at 2,000 baht per minute.

The above information about life in prison for hard-core drug traffickers was disclosed at a press conference held at the Justice Ministry to show off the performance of prison officials regarding drugs suppression inside prisons during the past six months.

The world’s longest improvised “small talk” wire linked the cellphone from one prison cell through sewage drains to another cell of the phone user which is about 200 metres away. Prison officials said that the phone user would not touch the cellphone which was held by the phone keeper who would signal the user when to pick up the “small talk”.

Officials claimed that a simple cellphone could cost up to 2 million baht apiece which was affordable by imprisoned major drug traffickers. They said that some space in prison which was not covered by jammers might cost up to 100,000 baht for the phone users to communicate with their drug trafficking network outside the prison.

Google map has also been used by some traffickers to pinpoint the drop zones in prison where drugs are to be airdropped by a drone or thrown over the prison walls with the help of a sling shot or an arrow.

During the past six months, a total of 6,703 cellphones were seized by prison officials most of them before they were smuggled into prisons. Over 1,000 SIM cards and many illicit drugs were also seized.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/cellphone-costs-2-million-baht-prison


-- Thai PBS 2014-12-18

[maidee]

"The ministry has also taken disciplinary action against 19 prison officials accused of being involved in narcotics - eight of whom were fired, while the rest suspended pending investigation, he said."

you must love this country, where as a policeman, you just get suspended where "normal" people are put in long term jail sentences

[bushwacker]

"The ministry has also transferred 59 prison officials - nine of whom were accused of smuggling drugs, six for smuggling mobile phones and 44 others for bringing in prohibited items."

=

Good job, it seems to be working well here. Now go and set it up in the other prisons.

[thesetat2013]

So they become millionaires quickly and then get a slap on the wrist or fired. What kind of justice is that as a detterent

[FangFerang]

Mind numbing numptys.

[SOTIRIOS]

.....selling drugs......fired....or suspended.....

....is that enforcement of the law....???

....how about seizing all their assets....or incarceration....???

[Ulic]

Only serious high level drug dealers can afford this cost structure. That is a serious amount of money for

a connection to the outside world.

[speedtripler]

the phones on that table look like theyre from 1995

im sure the richest gangsters in thai prisons would have something modern like smartphones

one of those phones is the size of a brick ,whose going to pay 2.5 million for that when they could order an iphone ??