Phuket Vice Governor Mr Teera Anantaseriwidhya led the inspection at about 5pm yesterday (Aug 17) along with Maj Surasak Pungyaem of the 25th Military Circle, based at the Royal Thai Army Region 4 headquarters in Nakhon Sri Thammarat and over 80 officers and police officers, who conducted drug searches on inmates’ bodies, in dormitories as well as urine tests on 200 randomly selected males and 200 randomly selected females.
The prison currently detains 2,132 male inmates, 398 female inmates, 217 foreign male inmates, 13 foreign female inmates, and three babies aged two, four and six months, as well as three pregnant inmates.
V/Gov Teera said, “The search of Phuket Prison is a policy. The “White Prison” inspection has been practiced for many years to prevent drug distribution and use in prisons. This time, the search of prisoners, and the examination of the sleeping areas did not find anything unusual.
“The randomly selected urine samples of 200 male and 200 female inmates did not find anything unusual,” he said.
V/Gov Teera added, “The well-being of inmates in prison is good. Several years ago, the prison was very crowded. But it has certainly improved the well-being of prisoners since the visit of HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha 2015.”
Mr Sombat Chuasamut, an official from the prison said, “The number one offence of inmates in Phuket Prison is drugs related cases – there are more than 70%. This is followed by fraud and counterfeit fraud, which are about 20%, and five per cent murders and assaults. The oldest prisoners are in their 60s and 70s.”