Covid-19 spreads in overcrowded Thai prisons
Klongprem central prison in Bangkok, May 11, 2021 as Thailand was overwhelmed by the epidemic in prisons.
REUTERS - Jorge Silva
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Thailand is facing an explosion of the Covid-19 epidemic in its prisons and is looking for ways to control the crisis.
The opportunity to raise awareness of prison conditions in the country.
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With our correspondent in Bangkok,
Carol Isoux
More than 25,000 inmates have tested positive
in a few weeks, or nearly 8% of the prison population.
The situation now appears to be out of control, made worse by the chronic overcrowding of Thai prisons.
The prisoners sleep on the floor
The prison system accommodates more than 300,000 detainees, according to the International Federation for Human Rights, two and a half times more prisoners than its official capacity.
Prisoners sleep on the floor for lack of space to put beds.
In the words of Minister of Justice Somsak Thepsutin himself, there is no more sleeping space in a cell than in a coffin.
Almost impossible therefore to separate healthy and infected prisoners.
Early release to unclog prisons
The situation was exposed by Rung, a young political activist in favor of the reform of the monarchy, released from preventive detention in May, who told reporters that she contracted the disease in prison, effectively forcing authorities to test the prisoners and reveal a situation that had been going on for weeks.
The crisis is such that the ministry is considering granting a royal pardon to 50,000 prisoners, especially who suffer from health problems that make them more vulnerable to the virus.
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See also: Thailand: hundreds of inmates infected with Covid-19 in two prisons in Bangkok
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