Published on May 8, 2003 - Thailand
The number of prisoners on
death row increased by 300 during the government's three-month
war on drugs, Department of Corrections officials said
yesterday.
The department's deputy director-general Natthee Jitsawang
said that after the three-month war against drugs ended on
April 30, the number of death-row inmates nationwide was 300
higher than at the end of January.
As many as 33 death-row inmates are awaiting their execution, said Natthee.At Bang Khwang Prison, which is the central prison for serious crime offenders, the number of inmates awaiting the death penalty is as high as 903. The prison has been forced to set up an additional execution venue.
Natthee and Bang Khwang Prison director Witthaya Sangkhanakhin, speaking at a press conference yesterday, also said that officials of Bang Khwang Prison have confiscated a number of mobile phones and gambling tools from inmates.
On April 24, two friends of an inmate convicted on a murder case hid a cellphone and electronic dice in a pork leg, before asking prison officials to deliver it to the inmate, Phanom Muangmee.
Prison officials filed a criminal charge against the two friends at Nonthaburi police station. Officials could only identify one of the friends as Malee Lekkimling. Malee came to the prison with an unidentified male friend. Arrest warrants have been issued for both of them.
According to Natthee, inmates mostly smuggle mobile phones
into the prison for criminal purposes. "In the past, some
inmates have ordered methamphetamine pills from drug agents
through mobile phones," he said.
