PUBLISHED : 16 Dec 2023 at 04:00
Justice Minister Pol Col Tawee Sodsong has defended a new regulation that allows for the detention of inmates outside of prison, which could benefit convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
He said the new rule is in line with the law and international practices. Pol Col Tawee said the Department of Corrections (DOC) last Friday issued the new rule in line with the Corrections Act B.E. 2560 (2017), which is an amended version of the old Corrections Act B.E. 2475 (1932).
The old law had been on the books for a long time, and some of its provisions did not comply with the current criminal management system and international practices regarding the treatment of prisoners, Pol Col Tawee said.
The old law did not allow for the detention of prisoners outside prison, and this did not help with the rehabilitation of prisoners and prison management, he said.
“The country’s correctional standards were given low ratings in terms of human rights partly because of prison overcrowding,” he said.
Last Friday, Sahakarn Phetnarin, deputy permanent secretary for justice and the DOC’s acting director-general issued the new regulation and informed all provincial governors about the matter.
All eyes will now be on whether it will benefit Thaksin, who was recently sentenced to eight years in three cases and then immediately transferred to a police hospital.
Under the new regulation, prisoners allowed to be detained outside prison must meet certain requirements stipulated by the DOC and be categorised by a screening panel set up by the department.
The venues for detaining them may include houses or buildings with registered addresses.
Thaksin, 74, returned to Thailand on Aug 22 after 15 years of self-imposed exile. He was sent from Bangkok Remand Prison to the Police General Hospital that night for health reasons and has remained there since.
Pichit Chaimongkol, leader of the Network of Students and People Reforming Thailand, said that under the new rule, it is very likely that Thaksin will never spend a single day in jail.
“The new rule is even worse than the blanket amnesty bill [pushed by the Yingluck Shinawatra administration in 2013],” he said.
At the time, the ruling Pheu Thai Party’s bid to pass the amnesty bill ignited mass demonstrations by the now-defunct People’s Democratic Reform Committee, which blasted the legislation as a legal whitewash for Thaksin.