Prison riot in Thai South now under control

SONGKHLA, THAILAND, June 8 (TNA) - Authorities have brought a riot at Songkhla's prison in the Thai Far South under control, but eight inmates and an official were slightly injured and some areas of the prison were damaged. The about 10-hour riot by over 200 inmates at Songkhla's prison was brought under control on Monday afternoon, after Commanding General of the 4th Army Area Command Lieutenant General Prakarn Chonlayuth and Corrections Department Deputy Director General Ruangsak Suvaree successfully negotiated with four leading inmates by agreeing to solve problems as their demands, especially the overcrowding condition in the prison. Officials later allowed a group of inmates' relatives to observe the updated situation inside the prison to ensure that there were no fatalities from the riot, as rumoured. However, two buildings inside the prison were damaged as the protesting inmates set fire on them, including an indoor learning centre, while steel barriers separating zones 1,2, and 3 of the prison were also destroyed. There are now about 2,500 inmates at Songkhla's prison, some 1,000 of them are convicts of serious crime cases. Apart from the overcrowding condition at the prison, the inmates also claimed about insufficient food and stricter rules, namely the one barring them to use plastic bags, as part of an official reorganising plan in order to prevent the drug problem and other offences inside prisons nationwide. (TNA)