Justice Minister Chaikasem Nitisiri yesterday revealed a plan to seek Cabinet approval for a Bt30-billion budget to build 42 new prisons nationwide. In a bid to curb prison overcrowding, the ministry also seeks to issue a regulation suspending the remaining sentences of elderly inmates and of those prisoners who have served at least two-thirds of their terms.

Measures would also be implemented to help reduce the number of people sentenced to prison terms, he added.

Corrections Department chief Suchart Wong-anantachai said the 42 new prisons would include some “super max” high-security prisons to house serious offenders such as key drug dealers. Regarding a plan to privatise some prisons, Suchart said some firms with expertise could be used to assist in the detention of defendants awaiting their final trials, as well as pregnant inmates.

Stricter monitoring of drug-dealing activities at 17 high-security prisons had seen drug dealers resort to throwing or airlifting – by remote-controlled toy aircraft – cell phones over prison walls to inmates in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Khlong Phai and Ratchaburi’s Khao Bin prisons, Suchart said. Despite the stepped up monitoring, cell-phone smuggling into prisons continued, he said, with smartphones fetching Bt100,000 each and iPhones costing Bt300,000. Normal phones cost from Bt5,000 to Bt30,000, he said.

Journalist and Muay Thai enthusiast James Goyder got a glimpse inside a notorious jail when he participated in a boxing match with one of the inmates.

The popularity of behind-bars documentaries like Banged Up Abroad had probably given me unrealistic expectations as I stepped inside the imposing walls of Klong Prem Prison in Bangkok.
I had been ready for riots, drugs, gangs and violence but it soon became clear that life for the 5,246 inmates was much more mundane.

The daily schedule was displayed on the wall:
05:30 Wake Up Whistle
06:00 Going Out Of Sleeping Quarters
17:00 Going Up To Sleeping Quarters
19:00 Meditation and Prayer Time
20:00 Sleeping Time

It was not until we had been shown where the prisoners sleep that the significance of this timetable really sank in. The cells all measured approximately 1.5 metres x 3.5 metres including a small bathroom area at the back which consisted of a tap and a hole in the floor for a lavatory. This was partitioned off from the remainder of the room by nothing more than a waist-height wall.

Each cell held three to four prisoners but there were no chairs or beds. Instead, inmates slept side by side on the floor, and if they were lucky there was a small TV in the corner. They spend 13 hours a day in this claustrophobically confined space.

We were given a guided tour by a well-educated inmate whose story was vaguely reminiscent of that of Walter White in the Breaking Bad TV series which had concluded the previous week. He had learned English by working overseas before being caught producing methamphetamine and handed a 50 year sentence.

According to our guide, regular urine testing ensured that drug use was minimal, at least in the section we were in, while violence is rare and rape absolutely unheard of. The only thing that prisoners have to fear is disease – if someone in a cell contracts something it will inevitably spread to all the other occupants.

Perhaps to compensate for this spirit-sapping night-time regime, prison authorities are more proactive when it comes to keeping the inmates occupied during the day. One block contains footballers who will play together morning and afternoon with Klong Prem famously hosting its own ‘World Cup’ back in 2010.

The block we were shown around was adjacent to a boxing ring where prisoners train together twice a day and occasionally compete in Prison Fight, an event held inside Klong Prem’s walls which gives inmates the opportunity to take on outsiders at either Muay Thai or boxing.

The prisoners I spoke to seemed to be serving sentences of anything from 20 to 80 years, mainly for drug offences. Many of them were covered head to toe in ornate body art which, according to our guide, prove popular purely because getting tattooed is virtually the only way to alleviate the boredom at night.

We did hear a few light-hearted anecdotes. For instance our guide informed us that if two prisoners had a problem with one another they were sometimes given boxing gloves and told to settle their differences in a supervised setting inside the ring.
We were also told that inmates were allowed to enter into relationships with the ladyboys who make up a small percentage of the prison population, but only on the condition that they informed the authorities first and agreed to an official marriage of sorts.

Once the ‘marriage’ had been approved they would be moved into the same cell and if the relationship eventually came to an end they could seek an official divorce. This emphasis on monogamy is understandable given how prevalent HIV is among Thailand’s transgender community.

In order to get access to Klong Prem in the first place I had agreed to do a boxing match with an inmate. The fight itself won’t linger long in the memory – it was a scrappy affair and I lost a decision – but the sight of the prisoners crammed into those cells for 13 hours at a time is not something I will forget in a hurry.

From what we saw, prison life didn’t seem to be fraught with danger, other than the risk of disease, but the monotony of the daily routine must be absolutely unbearable. It’s difficult to imagine settling into a schedule like that and accepting that it is going to continue for several decades, potentially to the end of your natural life.

The Forensic Institute was instructed to conduct compulsory DNA checks for inmates and migrant workers nationwide.

During his inspection trip to the institute yesterday, Justice Minister Chaikasem Nitisiri was informed that collection of DNA data among inmates has been done on a voluntary basis and the institute now has DNA data for more than 100,000 prisoners.

The majority of the data involves 60,000 convicts on drugs charges and 40,000 others on charges concerning security in Thailand’s southern border provinces.

The data is useful in tracing inmates who violate the law after they are released.

Mr Chaikasem said he wanted the Forensic Institute to study the possibility of mandatory DNA checks among prisoners after it was found that 5 per cent of inmates, mostly in major cases, refused to have their DNA checked.

He said he agreed with a proposal to require DNA checks among migrant workers in Thailand to search for them in case they disappear or become crime victims.

The 61-year-old grandfather, also known as ”Uncle SMS” because he was convicted of sending four short text messages deemed insulting to the monarchy to the then personal secretary of Democrat party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, died while in custody in May 2012.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for defaming the monarchy in 2010.
The court conducted an inquest into the death after the prosecution requested verification of the cause.

His relatives raised concerns that he died because of a lack of proper treatment at the prison’s hospital.

The court ruled yesterday that Ampon, who suffered from liver cancer, died because of blood circulation problems and heart failure.

The court rejected testimony by Thantawut Taweewarodomkul, a lese majeste prisoner who shared the same living quarters with Ampon, and Kittiphum Juthasamit, a Phusing Hospital director, that improper treatment at the prison hospital and inadequate equipment at the correctional facility contributed to his death.

During the inquest which began seven months ago, Mr Thantawut told the court the prison authorities did not give Ampon enough food and restricted his meetings with doctors. Prison officials also abused him verbally because he was a lese majeste prisoner.The court said yesterday the authorities did not discriminate against Ampon.

He was given meals of a similar standard to other inmates, the court said.

As for Dr Kittiphum’s comment that the prison hospital should have done more for Ampon, the court ruled the doctor’s opinion did not prove the prison’s hospital caused his death.

Doctors may have different approaches to treating patients, the court said.

Ratchanee Harnsomsakul, 59, a senior nurse who was working at the hospital on May 8, the day of Ampon’s death, said medical staff provided the inmate with the standard treatment.

However, she admitted the prison hospital was not properly equipped to treat cancer patients.

A police forensic team which conducted a post-mortem said Ampon had died as a result of lung cancer.

Ampon’s wife Rosalin filed a lawsuit seeking more than two million baht in compensation from the Corrections Department early this year.

”She does not actually want the money but she would like to make a point about what she believes are substandard medical services for prisoners,” Poonsuk Poonsukcharoen, one of Ampon’s lawyers, said.

”There’s nothing personal here.”

It’s late summer in the emerald hills of Thailand’s Nakhon Ratchasima province, some 150 miles northeast of Bangkok. The sticky heat, common during this time of year, is even more stifling in the cramped courtyard of Klong Pai, one of the country’s largest high-security prisons, which houses drug traffickers, thieves, murderers and––as evidenced by the blows being exchanged on the blood-stained canvas in front of me—some of the best Muay Thai boxers in the world.

As flea-bitten dogs roam the courtyard, darting between the legs of the hundreds of inmates on hand for the fight—which mixes aspects of martial arts and traditional boxing—Arran Burton, a heavily tattooed beanpole from the hardscrabble English city of Colchester, does battle with Chalernpol Sawangsuk, a 26-year-old currently serving time at Klong Pai for trafficking crystal meth.

Though Burton, a free man, has the advantages of training in proper gyms, maintaining good nutrition and being an established fighter on the local Muay Thai circuit, his opponent, who is just 5-foot-7, has him off balance. Sawangsuk ducks under a hook, evades a jab and then counters with a hard kick to the solar plexus that sends Burton wobbling backward into the ropes. The inmate spectators—no doubt rooting for one of their own—give a raucous cheer.

Sawangsuk, smiling through the rubber of his mouth guard, has every reason to be pleased. A win today wouldn’t just bring him the admiration of his fellow inmates—it would bring him one step closer to freedom.

The Klong Pai fight is part of a program set up in 2010 by the Thai government that sanctions fights at dozens of correctional facilities across the country. Only prison officials, local politicians, inmates, family members and the professional fighters who began to participate this year are allowed to attend. The events are orchestrated in much the same way as pro tournaments: All fighters wear regulation gloves and wraps, and every bout is overseen by a seasoned Muay Thai referee.

If an inmate wins a match, his case is referred to the warden of his prison, who then has the option of reducing his sentence by months or even years. After winning five straight bouts, Sawangsuk, a former enforcer for a Bangkok gambling ring, has already shaved seven years off his 10-year sentence. If he wins today, he could be a free man within a few months.

On the face of it, the program seems ridiculous, like something out of a Jean-Claude Van Damme action movie. You could go as far as to say there’s something vaguely sinister about it: The most dangerous men in the correctional system are the ones awarded their freedom.

There is also, though, a certain logic to the program. Drugs and gang activity are rampant in Thai prisons, and there are precious few opportunities for rehabilitation or education. Training for a match helps center the contestants and fills up their days with gym time. It also makes work for scores of other prisoners, who serve as coaches, cutmen, sparring partners and masseurs. These crewmen develop strong bonds with their boxers and each other, as well as a sense of purpose. Between rounds, they crowd into the corner of the ring, whispering encouragement to their fighters.

Most important, the contests provide two commodities that are in extremely short supply in Thai prison life: a chance at redemption and a source of pride.

“Muay Thai is a strong part of Thai culture,” says Aree Chaloisuk, the director of Klong Pai. “I think the fighters are proud to participate in the program. From what I have seen, it can improve bad behavior and provides an opportunity for a career for inmates after they leave prison—they can compete instead of becoming criminals again.”

Seen in this way, the commutations issued by the prison aren’t rewards for violence; they’re rewards for pursuing a vocation other than crime. In fact, many American prisons run similar sporting programs. There are boxing teams, football and basketball squads and, at Louisiana’s Angola prison, the famous inmate rodeo competition. While these programs aren’t directly attached to “earning time,” in certain prisons inmates can reduce their sentences for good behavior—and what better way to exhibit good behavior than practicing good sportsmanship.

Peter Moskos, an associate professor at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, argues that such athletic programs offer inmates a rare opportunity for self-improvement. “It’s really easy to forget how cruel prison can be,” he says. “I think that in the name of humanity, you’ve got to give people some way to better themselves. After all, even if it’s not always carried out, remember that the whole purpose of prison is ostensibly to help people.”

Chalernpol Sawangsuk’s life was never easy. A stern-faced, taciturn man, he grew up north of Bangkok, in a poor family, and was raised mostly by his grandmother and mother. He joined a Muay Thai gym at the age of nine and competed successfully at the amateur level for a couple of years. But many of his childhood friends were joining gangs, and he was tempted by the criminal life and all the possibilities that came with it—the money, the cars, the women.

By the time he hit 16, Sawangsuk was making a good living working as muscle for various criminal organizations. He had the toughness for it, and the smarts. Then, three years ago, at the age of 23, he was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 10 years.

Sawangsuk spent his first year in prison the way most inmates in Thailand do: He smoked black-market cigarettes; he allowed a friend to cover his entire torso in an elaborate tapestry of ballpoint-ink-and-sewing-needle tattoos; he grew fat; he lost contact with his family.

At the beginning of his second year, he heard about the Muay Thai program. To be eligible, you needed only to have a sentence of a decade or more and a background in Muay Thai. Sawangsuk had both. So he set about getting himself back into shape.

He had always been a natural fighter––patient and outwardly calm, with a capacity for explosive brutality that could stun his opponents into submission. And yet, in the outside world, the trappings of the gangster life had too easily distracted him.

In prison, there wasn’t a lot of room for distraction. Sawangsuk trained relentlessly, typically from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a two-hour break at midday, when the tropical heat congeals into a damp, impenetrable soup. He ran, he jumped rope, he sparred. He also meditated.

“It was a big change to my life,” Sawangsuk says. “I think the program has helped me become more focused. I’ve slowed down. I think about things more. I’m more reasonable. I’ve seen myself grow up.”

Although many of the prison tournaments are staged among inmates, the bout we’re witnessing today pits the Klong Pai guys against pro fighters from Australia, North America and Europe. The bill is the work of a thirty-something Estonian businessman named Kirill Sokur, who teamed up with the Thai Department of Corrections earlier this year to help stage fights, such as this one, between inmates and outside professionals.

The name of Sokur’s organization, Prison Fight, is simple and straight to the point. In exchange for setting up the bouts and providing the equipment, Prison Fight receives a fee from the Thai government; it also has the opportunity to scout top talent from the prisoner pool. Fighters like Sawangsuk, when free, represent incredible potential for a savvy promoter––the bad guy turned good. The prisoners, in turn, have a shot at going legit.

“Giving these guys a ring and an opportunity to prove themselves in front of the rest of the inmates––and the world, actually––that’s pretty important,” Sokur says.

In the moments before Sawangsuk and Burton resume their fight, the ringside inmates of Klong Pai crowd the edge of the canvas, jockeying for the best view. Half the prison has been invited to the event, but not everyone can fit in the pavilion, so a tiered seating structure has been jerry-rigged. Prison officials and local politicians sit on a big dais above the ring; prisoners on particularly good behavior (identified by pristine white shirts) sit on folding chairs arranged in tidy rows on the floor; the rest of the inmates are arranged willy-nilly against a nearby chain-link fence.

As the second round gets underway, the roar from the crowd is deafening. Sawangsuk turns and nods. In some sense, he is fighting for his fellow inmates, too.

The first round went decisively to Sawangsuk. Now he turns up the intensity, pummelling his opponent with feet and knees and fists. Burton does his best to shield his face, but a number of punches get through, the heaviest of which make his ankles wobble. It’s not looking good for the Brit.

The inmates howl over the tinny sarama music being played, and the black-shirted referee raises his hands to stop the fight and restore order. Despite the delay, Sawangsuk stays focused, eyes narrowed. When the referee gives the signal to resume, Sawangsuk rips forward with shocking speed, catching Burton in the chin with his elbow. Burton tumbles down in segments. The top half of his body flops out of the ring. He does not wake up for a full 10 seconds, and even then he looks dazed. The fight is over.

Afterward, in the small, sweltering, makeshift trainer’s room in one of the prison barracks, Sawangsuk stands surrounded by his crew, one of whom tenderly unwraps the tape on his hands, while another wipes the oil off his shoulders and neck. “It went the way I thought it might,” Sawangsuk says of the fight. “Just a little bit faster.” His friends laugh appreciatively.

After his release, Sawangsuk says, he plans to accept Sokur’s offer to fight professionally. But first he is heading to a monastery in the south of the country, where he says he will don saffron robes, shave his head and serve as a Buddhist monk for three months. “The other life,” he says, “I think it’s really behind me.”

MATTHEW SHAER is the author of The Sinking of the Bounty: The True Story of a Tragic Shipwreck and Its Aftermath. He writes for New York, Harper’s and others.

Lampang prison officials were stunned to discover a prisoner had tried to conceal a mobile phone smuggled into the jail by swallowing it and carrying it in his stomach. Narong Juiset, director of Lampang Correction Institution for Drug Rehabilitation said, the prisoner was sent to a doctor after he developed a stomach ache. An x-ray revealed he had what appeared to be a mobile phone inside his stomach. He underwent an operation to remove it, and it proved to be a small Samsung mobile.

Mr Narong said searches had since resulted in the seizure of 12 mobile phones that were being hidden in this life-threatening fashion. It was extremely dangerous as the phone could obstruct the digestive system and cause death. Mr Narong said the phones were smuggled into the prison by visitors, and the concealed by the prisoners. More stringent searches will be made of items carried in by visitors, to prevent further smuggling of illegal items to inmates, he said The Lampang correction institute is the largest in the North, holding more than 1,000 male inmates on drug-related cases.

A remote-controlled helicopter was used to smuggle drugs and mobile phones into Khon Kaen Central Prison on Sunday. The aircraft flew over the walls of the jail and headed to Zone 2 in the early morning hours and dropped a box wrapped in grey duct tape near the bathroom area, Khon Kaen governor Somsak Suwannajarit told a news conference.

It was picked up by a radio frequency sensor system installed around the prison. Authorities collected the box and found 4kg of crystal methamphetamine, or ya ice, three mobile phones with SIM cards and battery chargers and sharp metal objects.

Officials conducted a search in a one-kilometre radius around the prison to track down the person who controlled the helicopter but failed to find the suspect. They found the aircraft left with the engine still running in a drainage canal about 150 metres from the facility.

After the incident, authorities searched the prison and confiscated numerous prohibited items, mostly sharp objects. No illicit drugs were detected, Mr Somsak said. Wuthichai Jenwiriyakul, the prison’s commander, believed the helicopter belonged to a major drug network attempting to deliver drugs into the prison but apparently they dropped the parcel at the wrong spot.

The seized aircraft had a camera installed at the front and was estimated to cost between 700,000 and one million baht. It was believed to be the same remote control aircraft used to drop a box containing three mobile phones into the prison last month.

Mr Wuthichai said a mobile phone could fetch 100,000 baht once it is smuggled into the prison and sold, according to inmates. Investigations are underway to find the suspects behind the drug smuggling by the costly remote control helicopter.

More than 600 Burmese prisoners have been released recently in Thailand, Burma’s Deputy Home Affairs Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Zan Myint said in parliament on Friday.

The deputy minister was speaking in response to a question by Thein Nyunt, MP of Thingangyun Township.

“I had a chance to read out in parliament a letter sent by some of these prisoners,” said Thein Nyunt. “Firstly, there are differences between the reality and what was said by the foreign minister and home minister in Parliament.

“Firstly, according to their letter, Burmese prisoners have to work harder than Thai prisoners. Burmese prisoners are not fed as well as Thai prisoners in both quality and quantity. When doing exercise, Burmese prisoners get different rights from their Thai counterparts. And another thing is that Burmese prisoners do not get the same medical treatment as the Thais.”

Since Burma achieved independence in 1948, there have been no prisoner exchanges between the two neighbours. However, Thein Nyunt said that he was going to try to revive an agreement during this parliamentary term.

Thein Nyunt said he had been told that there are about 10,000 Burmese currently detained on various charges in Thai prisons – 3,000 long-term and 7,000 short-term.

Some Burmese prisoners were expected to be released in an amnesty on 5 December, the birthday of Thailand’s king. However, due to the unstable political situation in the country, no amnesty was declared.

The Department of Corrections made known that the recently introduced electronic monitoring tags have so far been used on 39 offenders.

Over 200 monitoring tags have been sent to the department for its pilot project. Bangkok will first implement the initiative and if it proves successful, 3,000 additional tags will be introduced to correction facilities in 19 other provinces nationwide.

The tags are being fitted to offenders who committed minor crimes such as drunk driving or street racing. The tags enable authorities to track their position through the use of GPS technology and location verification units.

It is part of a plan to ease the massive overcrowding in prisons and juvenile homes across the country, releasing selected inmates into home detention.

Prison inmates should be allowed to have sex with their wives or husbands twice a year, according to the author of an academic study into sex in Thai prisons.

Siriwan Kraisurapong, a lecturer at Mahidol University’s Faculty of Social Sciences, said researchers have carried out five studies into sex in Thai prisons since 2010, all of which indicate that ‘prohibited’ sexual activity is commonplace in both female and male prisons across the country.

“Many inmates engage in sexual activities in exchange for money, sexual fulfilment or security,” Ms Siriwan said. “They may also want to temporarily break away from rules and regulations, or just want to relieve the emotional distress of being confined.”

Inmates may participate in oral or anal sex or use objects for sexual gratification, she added.

The academic said studies had found that dominant members in prison gangs have special tattoos to identify the fact that they take their pick of inmates. Their chosen partners are often physically weaker and forced into taking part in sexual acts against their will, she said.

Ms Siriwan said research indicates that female inmates tend to create prison “families”, where one member takes the “husband” role and another plays the “wife”. The “husbands” cut their hair short and wear binders to flatten their chests, while the “wives” take care of their partners and express jealousy, she said.

“The inmates may be straight but want to be happy whilst they’re doing time. They also know that these things only happen within their cells and that society is not aware of what’s going on,” Ms Siriwan said.

According to studies conducted in foreign countries, some prison guards and wardens are known to sexually exploit inmates. No studies into the issue have been carried out in Thailand but it is likely that such incidents occur in Thai prisons, the academic said.

“Thailand still has no clear policy on the sexual activity of inmates and the authorities have made no real effort to intervene. This could easily lead to sexual violence in prisons,” she said.

She added that relevant agencies must be more aware of inmates’ sexual orientations and educate prisoners about disease prevention, since they are considered a high risk group for contracting HIV, hepatitis and tuberculosis.

“We should not see having sex in prison as wrong when it actually helps ease inmates’ stress. But it is important that both sides mutually agree and that they’re not forced,” she said.

“Inmates in foreign countries can ask for condoms. Another thing that has never happened in Thailand is to allow inmates to stay with their partners, maybe for two days a year.

“Sex is natural but inmates have all their rights taken away. Try to imagine what it’s like for those who are sentenced to 20 yearsin prison and no longer have this right.”

A joint team from the Nepali embassy in Thailand and the Non-Resident Nepalis Association in Thailand (NRNA-Thailand) has learnt about the condition of Nepalis serving jail terms in Thai prisons. 

The team comprising Charge d´Affaires at the embassy Dor Nath Aryal, NRNA-Thailand President Khagendra Raj Dhakal and embassy official Hari Bahadur Thapa has learnt about the condition of Nepalis doing time in Thai prisons. 

According to Dhakal, the prisoners requested the embassy to take the initiative to seek a royal pardon for them so that they would be able to return to a normal life back in Nepal. 

Altogether 70 Nepalis are serving jail terms in various Thai prisons. The team held meetings with Nepalis inmates at Bang Kwang Central Jail and the Central Women´s Jail in Thailand on Saturday. While 21 Nepalis males are in Bang Kwang, nine women are doing time in the Central Women´s Jail. 

Other Nepalis are in Klong Prem Prision and Chiang Mai Prison. Most of them were arrested on charges of drug smuggling. 

According to Dhakal, the inmates whom the joint team met on Saturday requested them to take the initiative to let them serve their remaining jail terms in Nepal itself. They complained that they were facing difficulties due to lack of knowledge of the Thai language. 

Altogether 24 countries have reached an agreement with Thailand under which their nationals in Thai prisons can serve the rest of their terms in their own respective countries. Nepalis in Thai prisons can also be taken to Nepal to serve their remaining jail terms once Nepal inks a similar agreement with Thailand.

Dhakal of NRNA-Thailand said most Nepalis in Thai jails seemed to be innocent and illiterate people who had been used by those involved in smuggling illegal drugs. He said there is a need to organize awareness programs to prevent innocent Nepalis being arrested under such circumstances.

A British tourist accused of stealing a moped in Thailand was beaten to death in jail by a fellow inmate while in prison, an inquest has heard.

Sean Flanagan died after a man allegedly jumped onto his body with both knees before pressing down on him so hard he suffered broken ribs and ‘blunt-object trauma’.

Yet it took Thai authorities eight months to begin an investigation into the death, following pressure from the victim’s family.

Initially, the authorities had claimed that Flanagan had fallen off a wall but another prisoner at Pattaya Remand Prison has now been charged with his manslaughter.

Mr Flanagan, 46, divided his time between his home at Dalton, Cumbria, and Thailand, where his girlfriend lived.

Ian Smith, the coroner for South and East Cumbria, concluded Flanagan’s death was due to ‘injuries following an assault or assaults’.

A post mortem was carried out on April 24 after his body was repatriated, the inquest at Barrow Town Hall heard yesterday.

The cause of death was recorded as blunt chest trauma, but bruising to the face, abdomen and limbs was also noted.

DCI Bob Qazi, who has been liaising with the Flanagan family, said: ‘The doctor concluded she is in no doubt he was the victim of a serious assault with rib fractures and bruising to his body.’

Flanagan was arrested last March and accused of stealing the moped and taken to Pattaya Remand Prison two days later where he was said to have been behaving unusually.

DCI Qazi said: ‘It was said by several people he was losing his self-control, refusing to sleep and exhibiting violent behaviour. The gist of it was he was disturbing other prisoners and irritating them.’

On March 29, he was visited by embassy officials who discovered that he was in a wheelchair, heavily bruised and speaking incoherently.

Prison officials said that the injuries had been caused by Flanagan falling off a wall and into a drinking trough. It was later revealed that he had been attacked. A second, and fatal, assault occurred sometime after the embassy official’s visit.

It was not until November 2013 that the Thais began an investigation.

DCI Qazi said: ‘Mr Flanagan was assaulted by a man who admitted to jumping on his body with both knees, pressing his knees into Mr Flanagan’s chest for a period of time.’

The man, who has not been named, has since been charged with the Thai equivalent of manslaughter.

Summing up, Coroner Smith praised Flanagan’s family, DCI Qazi and the office of Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock for helping push for an investigation.

In a statement, Flanagan’s family urged the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to do more to support families in similar situations.

‘It is vital that the Foreign Office improves its communications system and realises that it is dealing with people and not case numbers.

‘Sean, we will miss you terribly.’

Flanagan was arrested after he went into a pawn shop and took a moped, according to a report in The Pattaya Daily News at the time.

He was charged after driving the moped to a nearby hotel, but denied the theft, the newspaper reported.

Flanagan’s friend Steven Strefford, 53, from Walney, Barrow, said: ‘One of my mates rang me straightaway when he got the news. He got done for nicking a moped and then banged up.

‘It’s a hell of a shame. I have known Sean a lot of years and he was one of those guys who, if you wanted a hand with anything, he would be there for you. We had some good laughs, we used to go out fishing together and he was an absolutely blinding lad. I couldn’t believe it when I heard. He was just a cracking guy.’

Although he returned to Barrow frequently to see friends and pick up work, Flanagan had travelled all over Asia, Africa and Europe, he said.

Mr Strefford added: ‘I tried to keep in touch with him, but he was always jaunting all over the place. He would always be back here for two or three months and get a bit of work somewhere and then be off out there somewhere.

‘He would always come back to see his mates, he will be sadly missed.
‘He did anything and everything; he could always turn his hand to anything. If there was job to do, he would do it.’

A police investigation panel has been set up to look into a Bang Pong Pang police investigator and other officers involved in the arrest of a man who was mistakenly prosecuted under his cousin’s name and later died in prison.

 Achariya Ruangrathana, president of The Club to Assist Victims of Crimes, yesterday led the family of the victim to file a complaint with Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Kamronwit Thoopkrachang.

The complaint calls for an investigation into Pol Lt Athipat Maisuk, a police investigator, and other officers involved in the arrest and prosecution of Kritsana Jengcharoen.

The family has accused the officers of not properly verifying the victim’s identity before jailing him.

Kritsana, 37, died in prison after being jailed under the name of his cousin Thanakij Sabking, 38.

Mr Achariya said Kritsana was arrested on March 6 at 2am for drink driving but since he had a previous drink-driving conviction he told Bang Pong Pang police that he was his cousin, Thanakij, who died in early January.

Police did not check Kritsana’s ID card carefully and prosecuted him as his cousin Thanakij.

The court found him guilty of drink driving and sentenced him to 42 days in prison because he was unable to pay the 8,500-baht fine.

On March 9 he was savagely beaten by other inmates and died at Khlong Five Prison in Pathum Thani.

The prison officers reported his death to police at Thanya Buri police station following the attack.

Mr Achariya said the attack took place in the presence of prison wardens.

However, no one took him to the hospital. He also said Kritsana was handcuffed at the time of the attack and that it was videotaped by someone who witnessed it.

Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit yesterday assigned deputy MPB chief Thitiraj Nongharnpitak and Metropolitan Police Division 5 commander Suebsak Pansuya to handle the case.

Pol Maj Gen Thitiraj said the case would be a lesson for police officers to carefully verify the identify of people they arrest.

He vowed not to protect any officers who are found to have been negligent in their duties.

The investigation is expected to be straightforward as the case does not appear to be very complex, he added.

Pol Maj Gen Suebsak said Kritsana’s offence of drink driving is considered minor.

Police handling the case had to prosecute him in the court following his confession.

The search team comprised narcotic suppression police, soldiers and corrections department officials. Pol Col Chatree Paisalsilp, deputy commander of the Narcotic Suppression Bureau, and Prasert Yusupharp, the governor of the prison, led the raid.

The operation targeted Zone 2 of the prison where 841 major drug offenders are jailed. Many apprehended drug traffickers had said they received orders from prisoners in this zone.

Instead of finding any drugs or other illegal objects, the officials found a few bank passbooks recording savings worth about 150,000 baht, 6,000 baht in cash, mobile phone SIM cards, notebooks recording sums of money and phone numbers, and cough medicine.

The passbooks were buried near a bathroom. Officials will check if the cough medicine had been adulterated with drugs.

Mr Prasert, the prison governor, said prison searches had started on June 9 as ordered by the National Council for Peace and Order and officials seized 16 mobile phones, 0.5 grammes of crystal methamphetamine or “ice”,  and a number of sharpened steel rods.

He said he would do his best to block attempts to send prohibited objects to prisoners.

Top corrections Department officials should not continue in their posts if they fail to stop the drug trade in prisons, assistant Army chief General Paiboon Koomchaya said yesterday.

Paiboon, who is in charge of legal and judicial affairs of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), said he had received a list of 200-300 prisoners suspected of being involved in the drug trade. He said these prisoners faced punishment and might be relocated from the prisons.

Paiboon said he would tackle the drug problem in jails and restructure the food procurement system in the Corrections Department to prevent drugs and mobile phones and other banned items from being smuggled in by those who supplied food to prisons.

He was responding to reports that the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) officials and the Nonthaburi police had arrested Pongwit Luachauychok, deputy director of the Marketing Organisation for Farmers (MOF), on charges of taking bribes from a food company for a contract to supply food to prisons in Chumphon province.

Paiboon said the military had dispatched people to carry out intelligence work in the prison and provide information about illegal activities in jails. Since taking control, he said the NCPO has ordered prison raids across the country to crack down on vice.

He will also call a meeting of the Special Investigation Committee to decide whether to remove some committee members who might be suspected of obstructing case investigations. He added that the change of committee members would be made only if there were grounds for such allegations because the NCPO did not want to be seen as removing officials siding with the previous government.TOP CORRECTIONS Department officials should not continue in their posts if they fail to stop the drug trade in prisons, assistant Army chief General Paiboon Koomchaya said yesterday.

Paiboon, who is in charge of legal and judicial affairs of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), said he had received a list of 200-300 prisoners suspected of being involved in the drug trade. He said these prisoners faced punishment and might be relocated from the prisons.

Paiboon said he would tackle the drug problem in jails and restructure the food procurement system in the Corrections Department to prevent drugs and mobile phones and other banned items from being smuggled in by those who supplied food to prisons.

He was responding to reports that the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) officials and the Nonthaburi police had arrested Pongwit Luachauychok, deputy director of the Marketing Organisation for Farmers (MOF), on charges of taking bribes from a food company for a contract to supply food to prisons in Chumphon province.

Paiboon said the military had dispatched people to carry out intelligence work in the prison and provide information about illegal activities in jails. Since taking control, he said the NCPO has ordered prison raids across the country to crack down on vice.

He will also call a meeting of the Special Investigation Committee to decide whether to remove some committee members who might be suspected of obstructing case investigations. He added that the change of committee members would be made only if there were grounds for such allegations because the NCPO did not want to be seen as removing officials siding with the previous government.

Lured by easy money, an escape from poverty or family pressure, thousands of women are locked up for drug offences in Thailand, which has one of the world’s highest rates of female imprisonment.

Mai, 27, was sentenced to three years in jail after she was caught with 20 “yaba” pills — a slang term for methamphetamine known locally as “crazy medicine” — used by tens of thousands of Thais from taxi drivers to students.

“The amount of yaba was more than was considered for personal use so I was charged with selling,” said Mai, whose boyfriend is also in prison for dealing methamphetamine.

She is serving her second stint behind bars in a prison in Ayutthaya north of Bangkok where she lives with her baby boy, and has no hope of early release in a country with one of the world’s strictest anti-drugs policies.

A three-year jail sentence for meth possession is routine in Thailand, where use of the illegal stimulant is rife.

Within Asia, the kingdom is second only to China in terms of methamphetamine seizures.

More than 95 million meth tablets were seized in Thailand in 2012, up almost five-fold from 2008, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Much of the region’s meth is produced in strife-torn border areas in neighbouring Myanmar and smuggled across the border.

Thailand saw nearly 196,000 methamphetamine-related arrests in 2012, the most in Asia, according to UNODC.

Sixty-nine Thai women were also arrested for drug smuggling overseas in the same year, compared with just three men, the UN agency said.

At the prison in Ayutthaya, the walls of the children’s room are covered with drawings.

But despite the flower beds that welcome visitors and the hair salon, life is no picnic with prisoners required to carry out cleaning and other tasks, said Mai, dressed in the same light blue uniform as the 650 other inmates.

The prisoners sew beads on T-shirts for a salary of just 100 baht ($3) a month, with the proceeds of the sales going towards the operating budget of the prison.

- ‘Still human beings’ -

In a country without a culture of socio-educational support for inmates, one Thai writer is trying to change her compatriots’ views of prison.

“We want the society to look at the prisoners as human beings. Everyone can make mistakes or be jailed as a scapegoat,” Orasom Suddhisakorn said.

Orasom leads writing workshops in prisons and has already published two collections of these stories, “Facekook” — “kook” meaning prison in Thai — that have sold several thousand copies.

The stories are familiar — of ordinary women sentenced to years in prison for a handful of yaba pills.

As a young penniless divorcee, one inmate wrote of how she sold the drug to raise her son, while another recounts how her foreign boyfriend manipulated and used her as a mule.

A third tells how she sold drugs to follow the tradition of her family, in which everyone, from her aunt to her mother, lived from meth trafficking.

- Remembering the past -

At one of the workshops, attended by about 20 inmates, 23-year-old Sawapa said writing “helps me to organise my thoughts”.

“It makes me think of the past, of my family, of how I lived,” she added.

Sawapa, who was jailed for possession of 30 yaba pills, recounts being led by a neighbour into small-time dealing while she was a student.

Her mother wants her to resume her studies and eventually take over the family grocery store. But her release date is not until 2018.

This tough treatment of small-time traffickers is one reason why Thailand has one of the world’s highest rates of women prisoners.

Roughly 42,000 women are behind bars in Thailand — about 14 percent of the total imprisoned population, according to the corrections department.

That compares with around nine percent for the United States, five percent for China and zero percent for Liechtenstein, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies.

Nearly half of the female inmates in Thailand are serving sentences for trafficking or possession of meth.

At the Ayutthaya jail, the figure is 80 percent, according to the prison director.

Orasom, the writer, is one of the rare voices to advocate a better support for prisoners.

But some other activists are calling for a reduction of prison terms for drugs, arguing that the harsh policy — which can result in decades in jail — has failed to curb dealing.

“People get 20, 30 or 40 years when it would be three years in other countries,” said Danthong Breen of rights group Union for Civil Liberty.

An inmate at Klongpai Central Prison has died after 20 condoms filled with crystal methamphetamine, or “ice”, burst in his stomach, according to prison director Aree Chaloeysook.

Mr Aree said the inmate, identified as Anukoon Pasookf, had been sentenced to life in prison on drug offence and was fighting his case in the Appeal Court.

An initial post-mortem examination found Anukoon, 33, hid 20 condoms containing a combined 165 grammes of ice drugs with an estimated street value of 8-10 million baht. The death was believed to have been caused by the bursting of some of the condoms in his stomach, Mr Aree said.

After searching his cell, authorities found another condom with crystal meth thought to have been discharged from his body.

Mr Aree said Anukoon was taken to testify before the Saraburi Provincial Court on Wednesday and prison guards performed regular security checks on him but found no irregularities before escorting him back to his cell.

Officials closely monitored him the next day after Anukoon did not come out from his cell to eat nor join other inmates in general activities. The inmate was later found dead in his cell on Friday morning.

Mr Aree believed Anukoon swallowed the drug while being taken to court on Tuesday and authorities were investigating further how it happened.

Mr Aree said an x-ray machine would be installed at the Klongpai Central Prison in August to detect illegal items in the inmates’ body.

An inmate was recently caught hiding three mobile phones up his rectum. He finally confessed to guards as he suffered severe stomach pains and asked for urgent medical aid, the prison commander said. The minimum selling price of a smuggled mobile phone in prison was 800,000 baht.

Trouble-making inmates from across Thailand are being transferred to the country’s only jail with a “super-maximum” security facility.

The Corrections Department also plans to set up three more “supermax” zones like the one at Khao Bin Prison in Ratchaburi in a bid to accommodate all misbehaving inmates and ensure that they lose their bad connections and, thus, their negative influence.

The reasons inmates get sent to the prison include drug trafficking, using cell phones or seriously intimidating fellow inmates.

“I think if we have ‘supermax’ facilities to accommodate about 1,000 trouble-making inmates, we should be able to end many problems,” Khao Bin Prison chief Yossapon Sutham said in an exclusive interview with The Nation.

The supermax zone at Khao Bin Prison can hold 500 inmates.

Recent news reports revealed that some prisoners continue to arrange drug deals from behind bars after obtaining cell phones through bribery and influence.

“To get a cell phone, some inmates have agreed to pay up to Bt3 million. To get a SIM card, some inmates have agreed to offer Bt800,000,” Yossapon said.

He disclosed that some inmates outside Khao Bin Prison’s supermax zone once used cell phones.

“But I have already launched a serious crackdown and pursued action against suspicious officials,” he said.

Yossapon remains sure that no one has snuck a cell-phone into the supermax zone.

“Before any person is allowed to walk into the zone, he or she must undergo body scanning. There’s no exemption. This rule applies to officials and the warden chief too,” he said.

He added that SIM card-detecting devices and security cameras were also in place.

“Officials monitor inmates round the clock with the help of 360 security cameras too,” he said.

When the ‘supermax’ facility opened last year, only troublemakers from the Khao Bin Prison were sent there. However, authorities now agree that it will be easier to control and reform inmates if trouble-makers are separated.

Kan, 33, said he was initially locked up in the Ubon Ratchathani Prison on a drug-related conviction.

He said he had managed to get into an influential gang there and got a cell-phone.

“Because of that I was sent to solitary detention at the supermax zone,” he said.

Unlike general prisons, the supermax does not allow inmates to walk around and they can’t use money. Neither can they accept food or items brought by families or friends.

There is no coffee and smoking is banned. Only direct relatives can “visit” via a video-conference system that officials can listen to.

Inmates are allowed only one hour of exercise a week.

“We have already had 287 inmates inside the supermax zone,” Yossapon said. Uan, who was jailed for attempted murder, said officials threw him in the supermax because he had often had brawls at Chon Buri Prison.

“I am under huge stress because I can’t contact anyone. I am allowed to leave my cell only when my lawyer arrives,” he said.

Kan said the situation at the supermax facility was so stressful that he would never want to come back.

“I even think I could die from stress here,” he said.

‘Supermax’ unit head Chanwit Karanan said inmates often shouted to ease their stress and some even banged their heads against the wall.

Parakorn Daengsomboon, who monitors inmates via CCTV, said he could zoom in closely on inmates.

“So if anything goes wrong, officials can rush in,” he said.

An early morning raid of Bang Jo Prison turned up no drugs or contraband today.

More than 90 officers, led by Phuket Prison Chief Rapin Nichanon, began the search at 5:30am.

Each of the 68 inmates was searched, as were their lockers, sleeping quarters, the infirmary and other areas where officers believed contraband could be hidden.

“The facility was drug-free, and we found no mobile phones or other banned items,” said Chief Rapin.

“All the inmates were tested for drugs. None of them tested positive.”

Prisoners at Bang Jo are searched and undergo drug tests every two to three months, Mr Rapin said.

“The inmates had no idea the inspection was going to happen. We are definitely happy with the results,” he added.

A similar inspection of Phuket Prison’s 2,870 male and female inmates on June 9 also failed to uncover any drugs or contraband. Of the 300 inmates randomly selected for drug testing there, none tested positive, allowing the facility to maintain the “White Prison” ranking it has had since May 2012.

Phuket’s main prison, though drug-free, remains severely overcrowded. Built for 800 inmates, it now contains nearly 3,000. Construction of a new facility is slated for next year at the Bang Jo location in Thalang.

A man accused of sexually assaulting his seven-year-old stepdaughter has been beaten to death in prison, police say, a day after he insisted he was innocent.

Prasin Nunkaew, 41, was arrested yesterday and charged with raping his stepdaughter on 6 July at a rubber farm in Trang district. Mr. Prasin’s wife filed the complaint with police.

In a press conference held yesterday, police said Mr. Prasin disputed the charge and insisted on his innocence. He was later transferred to Trang Remand Prison to await trial.

However, this morning the prison officials discovered that Mr. Prasin had been beaten to death by fellow inmates in his holding cell after a fight broke out, said Pol.Cpt. Methee Pinyoprakarn, an officer at Trang Police Station.

Pol.Cpt. Methee claimed that the fight was not related to Mr. Prasin’s rape charge, but failed to provide an explanation for the beating. He said the police are investigating the incident. 

The incident came at a time when Thai society and media are gripped by the story of 13-year-old girl who was raped and murdered on a night train. An employee of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) has been arrested and police say he has confessed to raping the girl in a sleeping car before throwing her body overboard.