Thai Ministry to propose releasing aging prisoners to ease cost burden

[webfact]

Ministry to propose releasing aging prisoners to ease cost burden



BANGKOK: -- The Justice Ministry is to propose Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha to invoke Section 44 of the interim constitution to release aging prisoners and prisoners with chronic sickness to reduce the state burden.

If approved, former influential mayor of Bang Saen or Kamnan Por will fall under the criteria to be freed as well as aging prisoners serving jail sentences for violation Article 112 of the Criminal Code.

This was revealed by the deputy permanent secretary of the Justice Ministry Mr Tawatchai Thaikiew yesterday.

He said the ministry has an idea to propose the release of aging prisoner who have no potential to commit any crime under the ministry’s scheme called “Taking Care and Monitoring Prisoners Freed on Royal Pardon to the Society to become Good Citizens.”

Under the idea, he said, prisoners to be freed must be those who are sick with chronic sickness and can no longer help themselves, and aging prisoners.

The idea is aimed to ease the burden of the government in taking care of these prisoners, he said.

For those serving jail terms for violating Article 112, they should also be benefited from the scheme if they fall under the criteria, he said.

Ruangsak Suwaree, deputy director-general of the Corrections Department, said the release would not take into account the names of the prisoners, but only whether or not they fit under the conditions set.

He was referring to Kamnan Por who was sentenced to serve prison term for murder but fled the country.

However the kamnan was arrested after quietly slipped into the country. He is now serving jail sentence at the prison hospital.

Ruangsak said prisoners being treated in the hospitals would require two guards to take turns for the three around-the-clock shifts, meaning the department would have to provide six guards daily to watch over a treated prisoner which is a cost burden , said the deputy director.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/ministry-to-propose-releasing-aging-prisoners-to-ease-cost-burden


-- Thai PBS 2015-05-22

[BSJ]

Just a thought. If they are murderers and rapists how about a lethal injection and save everybody the trouble of having them in the community?

[EricBerg]

Costs are more important than justice. Sounds very Thai...

[biplanebluey]

Costs are more important than justice. Sounds very Thai...

Of course the cost is exorbitant --------- 6 guards a day for every prisoner---------- and they are already in a secure building called a prison

[jackanapes]

its all very well releasing prisoners but who is going to take care of these people ?

[JOC]

This is too depressing, so time for a Red Bull and then I will take my Honda Civic on the tollway to Ayudhya.....

Edited May 22, 2015 by JOC

[hlj]

^{The prisoner's do not need released the prison's just need a small clinic on site for the prisoners}

^{This is a simple problem that can be resolved and not release any one until his time is up. Thai}

^{Government needs to update and reform all they deal with not only the RTP prisons.}

[hawksway]

Doubtful that humanity or rehabilitation are the real reasons for release. It's more likely to be related to the alarming prison overcrowding, relieving the State from providing medical treatment to the large numbers who fall ill due to the conditions and to make space for new Entrants who presently escape Prison by way of suspended sentences.

[RigPig]

¨“Taking Care and Monitoring Prisoners Freed on Royal Pardon to the Society to become Good Citizens.”¨

Wasn´t that the track on that old Pink Floyd Album, the one after ¨Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict¨ ?

Seriously, baybe they are trying to make some room for the batch about to arrive.......

[BigBadGeordie]

Do the Crime, Do the time?

But then again...............???????

[BigBadGeordie]

Just out of interest does anyone know how much it cost to keep one prisoner, Rudolf Hess?

Sometimes the crime, or as Fuhrer Khun P says, National Security , trumps all

[baboon]

Costs are more important than justice. Sounds very Thai...

Sounds very pragmatic to me. Why bother continuing to incarcerate some old lag who is on his way out anyway and is no longer a threat to society?

[BigBadGeordie]

Costs are more important than justice. Sounds very Thai...

Sounds very pragmatic to me. Why bother continuing to incarcerate some old lag who is on his way out anyway and is no longer a threat to society?

I take it that you or non of your family were victim of such a crime, when the Judicial system says 20 years, 40 years etc, should we say, ah shit its a bit expensive now, let him out?

[uptheos]

Where are these aged and chronically sick going to go, so they're no longer a burden?

[baboon]

Costs are more important than justice. Sounds very Thai...

Sounds very pragmatic to me. Why bother continuing to incarcerate some old lag who is on his way out anyway and is no longer a threat to society?

I take it that you or non of your family were victim of such a crime, when the Judicial system says 20 years, 40 years etc, should we say, ah shit its a bit expensive now, let him out?

How man, I very much doubt that myself or my family are likely to fall victim to crimes committed under article 112...

[chickenslegs]

Where are these aged and chronically sick going to go, so they're no longer a burden?

A lot of them will make miraculous recoveries when they are released.

And, the one mentioned in the OP is not short of a Baht or two - so he, and others like him, will continue to receive the very best care that money can buy.

The really good thing to come out of this (if it is enacted) would be the release of many people serving ridiculously long sentences under Article 112 (Lèse majesté). Maybe the infamous mushroom pickers could get an early release too.

[BigBadGeordie]

Costs are more important than justice. Sounds very Thai...

Sounds very pragmatic to me. Why bother continuing to incarcerate some old lag who is on his way out anyway and is no longer a threat to society?

I take it that you or non of your family were victim of such a crime, when the Judicial system says 20 years, 40 years etc, should we say, ah shit its a bit expensive now, let him out?

How man, I very much doubt that myself or my family are likely to fall victim to crimes committed under article 112...

Agreed, but I do know several people who are more than a "bit" of a "queen". ;-)

[rametindallas]

Costs are more important than justice. Sounds very Thai...

Sounds very pragmatic to me. Why bother continuing to incarcerate some old lag who is on his way out anyway and is no longer a threat to society?

Yes, since the article says that most of those released were in prison for violating Article 112 of the Criminal Code. That's the Lese Majesty law and these are non-violent elderly in poor health. Please let them spend their remaining months with their families. I have no problem releasing non-violent elderly, especially LM violators, as they are unlikely to re-offend are not a danger to society. I do wish the authorities had lied and said they were doing this on compassionate grounds rather than just to save money. Thais, for all of they personal sensitivities, can be very blunt sometimes.

As for Kamnan Poh, surely they can confiscate enough of his ill-gotten gains to offset him living in a hospital. He is not living in a prison hospital but in a private hospital; that's why he need guard just for him (his son is mayor of Pattaya). I think two guards per shift is ridiculous, though; doesn't his door have a lock? If he was in a prison hospital, there would be the same or fewer guards per prisoner ration compared to the regular prison. This writer is either confused or was too embarrased to ask questions a second time, as he would appear stupid, so he made up these contradicting facts. I have a Thai friend in Dallas who owns a Thai restaurant and one of his chief complaints is when a Thai waitress take a phone call for a delivery order, she will never ask the caller to repeat the address and/or phone number and sometimes the food is undeliverable.

[tonbridgebrit]

How about raise tax money from Thailand's rich people, and build more prisons ? And when building those prisons, make sure the construction workers are Thai, and not from Cambodia and Burma (and not Laos either). That way, Thailand benefits from more jobs for Thais, and less over-crowding in prisons.

[cookee68]

Then shoot the murdering shit then you wont have to spend all that money on guards, or just lock the door on his hospital room, and make his family pay the bill, after all he is in a private hospital, and not a prison hospital.