COMPERE: Australia and Thailand are close to signing a prisoner transfer treaty, which could see 12 Australians gaoled in Thailand ending their sentences back home.

From Bangkok, our South East Asia correspondent, Geoff Thompson, reports.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Twelve Australians are currently imprisoned in Thailand's chronically overcrowded gaols. About half of them are there for drug-related offences. John Doran isn't one of them. At 33 years of age, he's spent almost four years in a Thai gaol, and is looking at another four years behind bars. He's got TB and most of his teeth have rotted away.

So why is he in a Thai gaol? Well, for trying to change $400 worth of false traveller's cheques. A crime that in Australia would be punished with a fine and perhaps 20 hours of community service. But in Thailand he was sentenced to ten years in gaol.

John Doran's sister, Debbie Sing, lives in Perth.

DEBBIE SING: The conditions are really bad, like it's third world conditions. Sixty to a room sleeping on a concrete floor. The family support him and the Embassy support him, so he probably is lot more better off than a lot of other prisoners. But it is real third world conditions, I can guarantee that.

GEOFF THOMPSON: But very soon Debbie's brother may be back in Australia, serving out the rest of his term in an Australian gaol.

The last few days have seen a flurry of diplomatic meetings in Bangkok. John Griffen is Australia's Deputy Head of Mission in Thailand.

JOHN GRIFFEN: We're really down to the last clutch of essentially legal issues, attempting to reconcile Thai legal requirements with Australian legal requirements. So the Ambassador called on the new Justice Minister a couple of days ago. I called on the Foreign Ministry to go through the outstanding issues in detail, and all the signs are very promising.

GEOFF THOMPSON: How soon could Australian families expect their relatives, their loved ones, to actually be in Australian prisons, rather than in Thai prisons as they are now?

JOHN GRIFFEN: Well, that's hard to say. All I can say is we appear to be close to reaching agreement at officials level. It then has to be ticked off at the political level, and then the first applications have to be - from us - have to be considered by the Thais. But both sides are committed to moving as quickly as possible.

COMPERE: John Griffen, who's Australia's Deputy Head of Mission in Thailand.

Archived from ABC Online - Picture By: Ian Cugley News Ltd