CHIANGMAI PRISON Hilltribe Prisoners in Chiangmai Prisons - - 2 June 2004 :: Paul Hunt [valleyscript@yahoo.com]
The old prison in the center of Chiangmai city held men and women until 2000, but it is now the only female-only prison in northern Thailand. In early 2000 the new Chiangmai Central and Remand Prison on the northern outskirts of the city was opened for male prisoners.
On 19th January 2004, Chiangmai Women Correctional Institution held 1,883 female inmates, according to prison officials. However, in March 2003 the figure given was just under 2,300. Official figures for hilltribe prisoners are likely to be low, but on 19th January officials said there were 98 Lahu, 40 Karen, 38 Lisaw and 30 Akha women in the prison.
Director Naowarat Thanasrisutarat has been in charge of the women's facility since the men were transfered to the new prison in 2000. She said, "My one complaint about this prison is its size. The beautiful 100-year-old buildings were not meant to house 2,300 people... The government subsidises our basic needs such as food, medicine, sanitation, bedding, security and housing. This amounts to about 50% of our current expenses, the rest we generate ourselves...
I contacted a company in Lamphun Industrial Estate which is now ordering thousands of items of clothing every month... Our massage school, open every day between 0830 and 1700 hours, received over 25 tourists last Sunday... It's like managing a company, we have cash flow problems... We have lots of human resource issues... There are some prisons in Thailand which are struggling with this system as they end up bankrupting projects or getting into a financial quagmire..."
Na La Ja Thu, a 55-year-old Lahu woman, was transfered to this prison in October 2002 from Lard Yao women's prison in Bangkok. She has already served 8 years of a 20-year sentence for heroin. She comes from Cheng Tong in Myanmar. She has a 16-year-old son whom she has not been able to care for. She understands some English.
The new Chiangmai Central Prison held 4,066 male inmates on 19th January 2004, according to prison officials. Figures for hilltribe prisoners were not readily available and have not been forthcoming, despite a promise from prison officials. An approximate number of 1,000 hilltribe prisoners was given, of whom more than 400 were Akha, according to one source.
PRISONER LIST: HILLTRIBE : MEN WOMEN
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