Thread: Bang Kwang : Prison officials, police launch major raid

CORRECTIONS

Prison officials, police launch major raid on Bang Kwang jail
4/02/2012

Prison officials and police launched a major raid on seven zones at Bang Kwang Central Prison in Nonthaburi yesterday.


Inmates at Bang Kwang Central Prison in Nonthaburi gather in an open area as police, anti-drugs officials and jail wardens search their cells for illegal and prohibited items in a bid to stamp out the narcotics trade behind bars.
PATIPAT JANTHONG

They seized 40,470 baht in cash, some crystal methamphetamine, or ya ice, 39 smuggled mobile phones, 20 sets of gambling paraphernalia and 27 items of pornography.

The raid was carried out jointly by 650 officers from Police Region 1 and Bang Kwang prison officials.

Nonthaburi governor Wichian Phuttiwinyu said inmates' cells and occupational training houses at the prison's seven high security zones were searched.

The prison has about 200 prisoners on death row and 1,300 others serving life imprisonment.

Prison chiefs who are unable to stamp out illicit drugs in their jails are being urged to seek transfers, Justice Minister Pracha Promnok suggested during a meeting with commanders of prisons across the country yesterday.

Pol Gen Pracha said the Corrections Department and the ministry would have no objection if prison chiefs who thought they could not rid their jails of illicit drugs decided to seek a transfer.

He stressed he would reward prison officials based mainly on their performance in suppressing drugs.

The minister said the government has made suppression a national agenda item and the drug problem must be tackled within one year.

He said the ministry had a clear policy to financially support the installation of high-tech security equipment in prisons that can locate and block mobile phone signals. The phones are used by some inmates to carry on dealing from inside.

He said all prisons must complete separating drug inmates known to have connections with drug rings from other inmates by next week. Those inmates would be transferred to Khao Bin Central Prison's special zone and nine other maximum security prisons equipped with high-tech security equipment.

Ministry spokesman Thirachai Wutthitham said the Corrections Department and the Office of the Narcotics Control Board would meet on Monday to finalise a list of drug inmates who would be moved to Khao Bin Central Prison in Ratchaburi.

Inmates who will be sent there still have connections with drug rings outside the prisons, he said.

The nine maximum security prisons would not allow relatives to bring in any items for the inmates, he said.

Meanwhile, the installation of mobile phone signal-jammers and CCTVs in inmates' cells will be completed in May. Visitors and prison staff will be subject to body searches while any vehicles entering the prisons will be checked.

bangkokpost.com

"He stressed he would reward prison officials based mainly on their performance in suppressing drugs."

Brilliant management philosophy.

Originally Posted by Mid

equipped with high-tech security equipment.

grasses.

So they will have the only jail in the world without illicit drugs?
Pull the other one,its got bells on.

The guards are gonna make a killing now that the price will triple.

The monthly envelopes to the bosses will be extra thick too.

And it all looks good for media.

Quite brilliant really.

Shows where their emphasis is. They don't have money to feed them decently or insure that they have proper hygiene, but they can buy CCTV cameras.

Originally Posted by redbaron

Meanwhile, the installation of mobile phone signal-jammers and CCTVs in inmates' cells will be completed in May. Visitors and prison staff will be subject to body searches while any vehicles entering the prisons will be checked.

CCTV in every cell? That'd be expensive. Visitors getting searched? i would think this already happens... ... maybe they are going to start searching people properly as they enter the prison.

Let's go abuse some people who have no way to fight back

Thai style

I very much doubt they would put a camera in every cell - what does the place hold? Says 1500 on either death row or life... that's a lot of cameras.

^ The cells look quite different than the west mate. How many are in here?


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http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/loca...son-drug-trade

Four agencies to tackle prison drug trade

• Published: 8/02/2012 at 05:13 PM
• Online news: Security

Four major government agencies have agreed to jointly tackle the drug trade in prison with the Corrections Department being the coordinator, Justice Ministy spokesman Thirachai Wuthitham said Wednesday.

The four agencies are the Corrections Department, Department of Special Investigation (DSI), the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), and Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo).

Mr Thirachai said a meeting of the four agencies had agreed the Corrections Department should coordinate the joint operation.


Department of Special Investigation director-general Tharit Pengdit (Photo by Tawatchai Kemgumnerd)

DSI chief Tharit Pengdit said his deputy Pol Col Yanpol Yangyuen would be responsible for using electronic devices to tap the telephone conversations of drug suspects. The Corrections Department will supply the DSI with information on suspected individuals and groups of people as well as areas targetted for eavesdropping, he said.

Corrections Department director-general Suchart Wongananchai said his department would obtain information on the drug trade in prisons and pass it to the DSI for evaluation.

Information involving financial transactions would be passed to Amlo.

Any Corrections Department officials found to be involved in the drug trade would be investigated by the PACC for further action.

Pol Col Suchart said the Corrections Department alone could not tackle the problem, so help from other agencies was needed.

He said in the past four months he had sacked 18 warders for involvement in the drug trade and seized more than 1,500 mobile phones in prisons.

PACC secretary-general Dussadee Arayawuthi said his agency had proposed that all prison officials be subject to lie detector tests and also have their urine tested for drugs.

The DSI should also check records of telephones use by jailers whose behaviour was suspicious, for example spending beyond their income and gambling, Pol Col Dussadee said.

On Wednesday morning, more than 100 illegal items were discovered in Khao Bin Central Prison in Ratchaburi during searches when police raided two areas of the facility.


Khao Bin Central Prison (Photo by Tawatchai Kemgumnerd)

Ratchaburi governor Chomchuen Bunyanuson together with a team of police and correctional officers raided zone 7 and zone 9 of Khao Bin about 5am after some notorious convicted drug dealers had been transferred from Klong Pai Central Prison in Nakhon Ratchasima.

Authorities found a cell phone hidden in an inmate's locker. They also found four SIM cards, cell phone chargers, cables, gambling accessories and sharp improvised weapons.

Khao Bin Central Prison has beefed up security in preparation to receive 200 drug inmates being transferred from other jails.

The Corrections Department chief said on Tuesday that Khao Bin has the best security protection system of all prisons nationwide.

The department plans to isolate convicted drug inmates suspected of maintaining connections with the illicit drug trade outside prison from other prisoners.

In Surin province, authorities this morning raided Rattanaburi Central Prison and found crystal methamphetamine, or "ice", and cell phones.

A team of about 260 police, administrative and correctional officers conducted an intensive search this morning.

They discovered a packet of crystal methamphetamine, drug tools, eight mobile phones, 10 phone chargers, five SIM cards, eight sharp objects and modified weapons, and tattoo needles.

Police were interrogating all inmates to track down the drug traders in the prison.


Police raid Khao Bin Central Prison in Ratchaburi and find more than 100 illegal items on Feb 8, 2012. (Photos by Sunant Ochakajorn)