THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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‘No special treatment for VIP inmates’

‘No special treatment for VIP inmates’

SONDHI LIMTHONGKUL, a media mogul and political leader convicted of falsifying documents, is not receiving special treatment behind bars, corrections authorities said yesterday.

A source from the Justice Ministry said Sondhi had not received special treatment although many people view him as a “VIP inmate”. 
“He is treated the same way as other inmates,” the source said.
Thawatchai Chaiwat, chief of Klong Prem Central Prison, where Sondhi is imprisoned, also denied yesterday that well-known inmates such as Sondhi lived in air-conditioned rooms.
“You can come and see for yourself if there are air-conditioned or special cells at Klong Prem,” the prison chief said.
Sondhi is being held in the same cell as Viroj Nualkhair, a former banker who was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment in August last year for bank loan fraud, according to the prison chief. 
The prison chief said newcomers often need time to get used to a life behind bars, so they are initially put in cells with inmates who have already spent time in prison. 
“With roommates, they can adapt better and have someone to talk |to. Some can adapt within seven |days, while others can’t do so even after a month in prison,” Thawatchai said. 
The Corrections Department said yesterday that Sondhi did not have health problems that would require him to be taken to hospital. 
The agency dismissed reports that Sondhi had become seriously ill dur?ing his first night behind bars and had to be rushed to hospital inside the com?pound of Klong Prem Central Prison. 
“He is still under detention at the Klong Prem Central Prison and his health is in a good condition,” the department said in a statement.
Sondhi was moved from the Bangkok Remand Prison, where |he was detained shortly after the Supreme Court upheld the 20-year |jail sentence issued by a lower court. 
The Bangkok Remand Prison is only allowed to detain convicts facing less than 15 years in prison, while the Klong Prem Central Prison can hold prison?ers sentenced to longer terms, a source from the Justice Ministry said. 
Due to his qualifications, Sondhi may be assigned a teaching job or work as an assistant to prison officials, the source said. 
On Tuesday, Sondhi and two |former colleagues were sentenced |to 20 years in prison for forging corporate docu?ments to apply for a Bt1.07-billion loan from Krungthai Bank in 1997.
According to the department, the two others convicted in the same case – former Manager Media Group exec?utives Yupin Chanthana and Saowaluk Thiranuchanyong -– had unspecified chronic diseases, although their blood pressure was normal. The two women, who were being held at the Central Women Correctional Institution, would be checked by prison doctors, the department said. 
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