Shouting Subsides At Local Prison

PHUKET TOWN: Visitors to Phuket Provincial Prison are saving their voices, thanks to a newly-installed two-way communication system at the facility. Visitors can now pick up a handset and converse directly with an inmate for 15 minutes inside the visiting room. The new 20,000-baht system has replaced the jail’s antiquated set-up wherein the parties – separated by steel curtains and a distance of two meters – had to shout at each other to be heard. Superintendent Chutinun Petchjarean told the Gazette this morning the installation of eight pairs of handsets and a new glass partition has been well received by visitors and inmates during the first week of operation. He said the prison would like to enlarge the visiting area to accommodate its nearly 500 daily visitors, but was constrained from doing so by space limitations.