Inmates riot at prison in Thai North

BANGKOK, December 8 (TNA) - Prisoners staged a riot at the Central Prison of Thailand’s northern Chiang Mai province Saturday, as they refuse to be transferred to a new jail. Police Colonel Suchart Wong-ananchai, Director-General of the Ministry of Justice's Department of Correction, told journalists that the riot started earlier in the day but the prison staffs and wardens were able to control the situation at around 4pm. Police Colonel Suchart did not mention any casualty in the riot, saying only that equipment used for inmate vocational training programs were burnt. According to the senior official, a plan on the inmates transfer motivated the riot, as the male prisoners oppose to their movement to the new central prison, located in Mae Taeng district out of the provincial centre. Police Colonel Suchart said inmates transfer will, however, be continued, as it is part of the government’s plan to ease congestion at the provincial central prison, with 1,200 prisoners having already been transferred to the new facility and 2,000 more to be transferred within this month. Once all the male prisoners are moved out, female inmates from Chiang Mai's provincial female prison will be moved in the prison. (TNA)