Eleven national and international human rights organizations called in an open letter, on Wednesday, for Thailand to address severely crowded prisons in light of the coronavirus outbreak.
Among the 11 organizations to sign the letter was the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, International Federation for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch and Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.
The group expressed their concerns over the potential “disastrous” impact of the outbreak on Thailand’s severely crowded prisons and called on the Thai government to release non-violent offenders and ensure the health and safety of all those in detention.
Despite its population of 70 million, Thailand ranks sixth in the world in total prison population.
“With Thailand’s total prison occupancy at over 300% capacity, the implementation of social distancing and other protective measures aimed at ensuring the health and safety of all persons is currently impossible for the 379,190 prisoners (331,405 men and 47,785 women),” the group said in its letter.
Among those the group called for release were:
· Prisoners over the age of 60.
· Sick prisoners, particularly those with underlying medical conditions (such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer).
· Prisoners awaiting trial.
· Prisoners sentenced to terms of up to two years.
· Prisoners with one year or less left to serve.
· Prisoners detained for immigration offenses.
· Pregnant women.
· All others detained without sufficient legal basis.
The World Health Organization has said that inadequate shelter and overcrowding are the main factors in the transmission of diseases with epidemic potential including the current coronavirus outbreak.
A prison break in Buriram saw a number of prisoners escape after rumours of coronavirus fueled a riot. Five people were injured in the incident.
