Jails as centres of crime for drug syndicates

The recent “unannounced” search by the authorities at the Nakhon Si Thammarat Central Prison has led to a perhaps not so shocking revelation about what is happening in Thai jails. The authorities in the southern prison uncovered cell phones and gambling equipment as well as 1,700 methamphetamine tablets and one kilo of crystal methamphetamine or “ice”.

The search has shown how corrupt the prison system has become. Imprisonment is not only meant to punish criminals, it is meant to re-educate and redeem inmates from the crimes they have committed. Instead, the findings at Nakhon Si Thammarat suggest the opposite is happening. This prison is apparently part of a huge drug network. It has become a place where illegal drug use, considered a serious crime by the Thai authorities, has been allowed to flourish under the noses of security officers.

The news may be quite shocking to some, but will not come as a surprise to many others. In fact, it simply reconfirms the fact that corruption and abuse of power have taken deep root in every corner of our society. The law enforcement officials at the prison have not done their jobs. Worse, many of them shamelessly chose to take bribes. For instance, some inmates have reportedly paid over Bt350,000 to officials to be allowed to have an iPhone for use while behind bars there. The worst cases of abuse are among those correction officers who are suspected to have certain knowledge about the widespread drug abuse at the prison, and the fact that they almost certainly profited from it.

This incident must be addressed head on, without fear or favour of bringing all the accomplices to justice. The removal of a couple of officers to inactive posts will not solve the problem. In fact, we can be certain that Nakhon Si Thammarat Central Prison is not an isolated case where the illegal drug trade was allowed to take place. Moreover, it is suspected that the convict drug gang in Nakhon Si Thammarat Prison has linked up with another gang operating inside a major Bangkok prison to create the country’s biggest drug network.

An illegal operation of this scale is likely to involve many people, from both inside and outside the cells. The law enforcement officers who have turned a blind eye to the criminal activities deserve to be behind bars along with the convicts they have been in cahoots with.

In fact, it turns out that the authorities’ effort to clamp down on the gang at Nakhon Si Thammarat Prison was compromised because details of the raid were leaked a few hours before the operation. Therefore, there must be a mole inside the security establishment there.

Kudos to Nakhon Si Thammarat police chief, Police Major General Ronapong Saikaew, other police officers and soldiers who took part in the search operation at the prison. First of all, the operation has brought this serious issue to the public’s attention. Secondly, these officers have fulfilled their duty to help suppress crime inside the prison.

In addition, these officers have regained some trust from the communities who have been directly affected by widespread drug abuse. Most people in local communities that are badly affected by drug abuse do not want to be whistle-blowers or give the authorities any tip-offs regarding drug crime. This is because many people believe police officers themselves might be part of the drug rings.

After the operation in Nakhon Si Thammarat some local people came out to give flowers to the officers involved in the raid. This should be seen as a good sign that ordinary people can still rely on law enforcement officials and that they can safely provide useful tip-offs whenever they have any information about drug abuse.

This effort must continue in earnest because we cannot allow the prison system to become an active part of Thailand’s networks of drug traffickers, who have links to traffickers and producers in neighbouring countries such as Myanmar.

Correction facilities are supposed to be a deterrent against further crime and to provide an opportunity for redemption. They are supposed to reform offenders so that they emerge, after their sentences, as better citizens. We cannot let our correction facilities become centres for serious crime.