Tourism News

Tourism News Phuketwan Tourism News
facebook recommendations

NEWS ALERTS

Sign up now for our News Alert emails and the latest breaking news plus new features.

Click to subscribe

Existing subscribers can unsubscribe here

RSS FEEDS

Conditions inside prison are deemed acceptable despite crowding

Phuket Prison Battles Scabies Outbreak: 147 Inmates Win Pardons

Tuesday, December 6, 2011
PHUKET: An outbreak of the infectious skin complaint scabies is being fought inside Phuket Prison where 147 inmates, six of them women, are about to enjoy unexpected freedom on Thursday under a Royal pardon.

Early release of the Phuket prisoners will alleviate the chronic overcrowding as more than 1600 inmates are being housed in a facility built 109 years ago to house half that number.

The prisoners who are to be freed with be told tomorrow.

News of the scabies outbreak has come to Phuketwan from a person who was briefly in the jail, long enough to encounter inmates he said badly needed treatment.

General conditions inside the Phuket Prison were better than reports suggested, our informant said. But he added: ''I got one big shock when I saw one poor young man.

''His body was bestrewn with pimples produced from scabies. The whole body was just one big wound and the staff in the [prison] 'hospital' just disinfected his wounds.

''This young man felt tremendous pain when I took a look at his toes during the treatment. This poor guy - and there are many of them with the same problems - should be transported immediately to a hospital to get recovered.''

Another source confirmed that prison officials had been hard-pressed during the wet monsoon season months to properly dry and clean prisoners' bedding to obliterate the microscopic scabies mites that burrow under the skin and cause intense itching.

When contacted today by Phuketwan the Deputy Director of Phuket Public Health, Dr Wiwat Kitamoch, said he would get in touch immediately with Phuket Prison officials to offer the department's help in dealing with the scabies outbreak.

The person who raised the issue via Phuketwan said that on the inside, he discovered that 245 prisoners were crowded into one 144 square-metre dormitory for 15 hours a day from 5pm until 8am.

''Each of them has less than 0.4 square metres to stay, because in the 144 square metres there are the toilets with about seven square metres included.''

Some expat inmates our informant spoke to inside Phuket prison were not particularly disturbed by conditions and were generally well-treated, he said.

''It's not comfortable there but not such a big problem,'' he told Phuketwan. No expats are among the prisoners to be granted early release on Thursday.

A total of 26,000 prisoners are to be released in the next few days in a Royal pardon to mark HM The King's 84th birthday yesterday.

Conditions in Phuket and Thai jails have been raised in extradition proceedings aimed at returning Briton Lee Aldhouse to face a murder trial over the ambush stabbing of American Dashawn Longfellow in September 2010.

A court decision in favor of extradition is currently being appealed by Aldhouse.

Comments

Comments have been disabled for this article.

gravatar

well the should think about stuff like that before the try to peddle crack, or rape, or kill someone shouldn't they!!

Posted by poppops on December 7, 2011 07:21


Friday March 29, 2024
Horizon Karon Beach Resort & Spa

FOLLOW PHUKETWAN

Facebook Twitter