Corrections Department weighs 25-year threshold for death-row inmates

Thailand’s Department of Corrections is considering tougher rules governing sentence reductions and privileges for prisoners convicted of serious offences, including a proposal requiring death-row inmates to serve at least 25 years before becoming eligible for an upgrade in prisoner classification.

The department convened a working group on Monday to review and improve the enforcement of criminal sentences and measures aimed at preventing repeat offending.

The meeting sought to establish a framework, criteria and operating guidelines for a draft ministerial regulation governing benefits available to convicted prisoners, as well as conditions applying to inmates released after receiving sentence reductions or parole.

Pol Lt Col Prawut Wongsinil, director-general of the Department of Corrections, told reporters that the proposals remained under consideration and that no final decision had been reached.

Under the preliminary criteria discussed at the meeting, prisoners sentenced to death would have to remain in prison for at least 25 years from the date their cases became final before becoming eligible for either an ordinary or special upgrade in prisoner classification.

Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment would have to serve at least 20 years from the date of the final judgement before qualifying for such an upgrade.

An internal report presented at the meeting proposed setting minimum periods of actual imprisonment for prisoners serving the most severe sentences before they could receive classification benefits.

The proposed criteria are intended to strengthen controls and prevent possible abuse of sentence-remission arrangements in serious criminal cases. However, the Corrections Department stressed that the discussions were incomplete and that the proposed thresholds had not yet been formally approved.