PHUKET: The number of inmates at Phuket Prison has topped 1500 for the first time as drug offenders on Phuket continue to increase.
Built more than 100 years ago to house half that number of inmates, the Phuket institution in Phuket City is today bulging at the seams.
Thirty-two expats - some serving sentences and others awaiting trial - are among the inmates behind the Phuket jail's freshly painted facade.
The prison's population has increased by 124 to 1549 in the month since the figures were last reported, with an astonishing 82.43 percent of those held for drug offences.
Of those inside, 820 are serving sentences. Another 200 have cases on appeal to higher courts.
The remainder are awaiting trial. Those on remand mix with the guilty and appellants and sleep in the same dormitories.
Some dealers involved with large amounts of drugs are subjected to special security.
Governor Tri Augkaradacha has signed a 90,000 baht contract to provide the Phuket jail with 12 security cameras that officials hope will help control the growing issue of smuggling.
Mobile phones have been thrown over the prison walls inside dead rats and a visitor was recently apprehended on the way to meet a prisoner with drugs hidden inside a Kentucky Fried chicken breast.
An amnesty for some prisoners is expected as part of the celebrations of the birthday of HM The King on December 5.
However, that's likely to provide temporary relief. All of Thailand's southern jails are overcrowded.
Land has been set aside for a new prison on Phuket but no funds have been allocated.
Expats inside - tallied separately from Burmese inmates - at present include two women.
The list is: British three, German one, Tunisia one, Afghanistan one, Malaysia three, Singapore two, China/Taiwan three, India two, Pakistan one, US one, Cameroon four, Switzerland three, Romania four (one female), Bangladesh one, Australia one, Iran two (one female), Serbia one.
Burmese number 27 men and nine women. Of the total number of inmates, 205 are women.
Built more than 100 years ago to house half that number of inmates, the Phuket institution in Phuket City is today bulging at the seams.
Thirty-two expats - some serving sentences and others awaiting trial - are among the inmates behind the Phuket jail's freshly painted facade.
The prison's population has increased by 124 to 1549 in the month since the figures were last reported, with an astonishing 82.43 percent of those held for drug offences.
Of those inside, 820 are serving sentences. Another 200 have cases on appeal to higher courts.
The remainder are awaiting trial. Those on remand mix with the guilty and appellants and sleep in the same dormitories.
Some dealers involved with large amounts of drugs are subjected to special security.
Governor Tri Augkaradacha has signed a 90,000 baht contract to provide the Phuket jail with 12 security cameras that officials hope will help control the growing issue of smuggling.
Mobile phones have been thrown over the prison walls inside dead rats and a visitor was recently apprehended on the way to meet a prisoner with drugs hidden inside a Kentucky Fried chicken breast.
An amnesty for some prisoners is expected as part of the celebrations of the birthday of HM The King on December 5.
However, that's likely to provide temporary relief. All of Thailand's southern jails are overcrowded.
Land has been set aside for a new prison on Phuket but no funds have been allocated.
Expats inside - tallied separately from Burmese inmates - at present include two women.
The list is: British three, German one, Tunisia one, Afghanistan one, Malaysia three, Singapore two, China/Taiwan three, India two, Pakistan one, US one, Cameroon four, Switzerland three, Romania four (one female), Bangladesh one, Australia one, Iran two (one female), Serbia one.
Burmese number 27 men and nine women. Of the total number of inmates, 205 are women.
