Samut Prakan prison chief transferred over inmate death

Samut Prakan Central Prison chief Krit Wongwet has been shifted to an inactive post at the Corrections Department pending an investigation into the death of a 34-year-old inmate. (Photo by Sutthiwit Chayutworakan)

SAMUT PRAKAN: The chief of Samut Prakan Central Prison has been transferred following the death of a drug inmate from what appeared to be a severe beating.

Krit Wongwet has been moved to an inspector-general position at the Corrections Department pending an investigation.

Pattanachirapong Boonyasema, 34, died on April 18. His widow says a warder told her that he had been punished (the reason was not given) but she believes he had been tortured.

The woman posted pictures on her Facebook page on Friday showing severe brusing on her husband's body. She wrote that a prison official informed her that her husband had died of unknown causes on Wednesday evening, just two days after she visited him.

Severe bruising is shown on the back of Pattanachirapong Boonyasema in Bang Bo Hospital, where his body was taken after his death at Samut Prakan central prison. (Photo from Wanicha Ouyub Facebook page)

During the visit on Monday morning, she said, he looked happy as he was due to be released.

When she went to Bang Bo Hospital to identify her husband's body, she said she was shocked to see severe bruises across this entire back and left arm. A warder who had taken the body to the hospital told her that he was among 18 prisoners who had been "punished" for unspecified offences.

The woman said believed her husband had been tortured and called for justice. The story and images have since gone viral online and drawn heavy criticism of prison officials.

Corrections Department chief Narat Sawettanan on Friday ordered an investigation into the death and into the conduct of the prison chief. Anyone found guilty in the case would face disciplinary and legal action, he added.

The inmate's body has been sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Police General Hospital in Bangkok for examination, said Pol Col Peerasak Rodbon, superintendent of the Khlong Dan police station in Samut Prakan.

Local investigators plan to call relatives of the dead inmate and prison officials for questioning, he added.

The prison lies within the jurisdiction of the Khlong Dan station but police in Bang Bo district were the first to learn of the incident when they received a call from Bang Bo Hospital on Wednesday afternoon.

Officers from Bang Bo coordinated with prosecutors, local officials and relatives of the inmate and arranged for the body to be sent to the Police General Hospital for a post-mortem, said Pol Col Sorawit Sukphet, superintendent of the Bang Bo station.