Prison cancels Open Days

PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Prison has canceled its Open Days, scheduled to take place between December 2 and 8, following the breakout and hostage drama at Samut Sakhon prison last week. Pairoj Pankaew, chief of the prison, told the Gazette today that he had received instructions from the director of the Region 8 Prison Service, in Nakhon Sri Thammarat, that Open Days in all prisons are to be suspended indefinitely. “We don’t yet have the confirmation order from the Department of Correction, but it’s 90% sure that Open Days are suspended indefinitely. I have instructed my officers to tell visitors who come to register that the Open Days may be postponed,” K. Pairoj said. In addition, daily visits to the prison by teachers and monks have been stopped in order to avoid any possibility of a repeat of the events in Samut Sakhon, during which a teacher was shot dead by nine armed Burmese escapees. The fugitives, who took the prison governor and two other staff hostage, eventually died in a hail of bullets not far from the Burmese border. The governor was severely injured and is still in hospital in a coma. “I have to be particularly careful not to give the prisoners the slightest chance to lay their hands on me,” K. Pairoj told the Gazette. “The prisoners don’t know anything about the events in Samut Sakhon from the media because we turned off the televisions and radios and stopped the newspapers,” he added. He said, ” I try to do everything to be fair to the prisoners if they have problems, and I take care to do as much as possible to relieve any stress they may be subjected to.”