<p>Prison conditions in Thailand remained well below international standards in 2022, FIDH and the Union for Civil Liberty (UCL) said in their annual prison report released today (9 March).&nbsp;</p>

<p>A family member of detained activist Thatchapong or Chatchai Kaedam, who recently tested positive for Covid-19, said that his condition has not improved, and his family and lawyer were not able to speak to his doctor or obtain information on his condition.</p>

<p>An ex-detainee and socialist activist has addressed activists&#39; difficulties in getting bail. This, together with poor conditions within prisons, has forced many political prisoners to confess.</p>

<p>11 human rights organizations issued a joint open letter to the&nbsp;Department of Corrections Director-General Pol Col Naras Savestanan calling for the Thai authorities to take immediate steps&nbsp;to release prisoners and ensure the health and safety of all those in detention facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>

<div>In June, a conference on measures to avoid pre-verdict detention, held at the Miracle Grand Hotel by the Department of Corrections, Ministry of Justice. The participants were Pol. Gen. </div>

<div>Several prisons certified as ‘model prisons’ by the Thai Institute of Justice (TIJ) fall short of international standards, as found by Prachatai English in a visit to several prisons, and according to a group activists and researchers, including former lèse majesté prisoner Pornthip Mankhong.</div>

<div>Despite Thailand’s famously appalling prison conditions, some ex-prisoners are preferring reimprisonment over the challenge of reintegrating into society.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The punitive slant of Thailand’s judicial system threatens offenders with heavy sanctions, but offers few rehabilitation mechanisms to address the difficulties inmates face upon returning to life outside the prison gates. </div>

<div>The number of terrorism suspects in overcrowded prisons in Thailand is growing, affecting the management and rehabilitation of inmates, an official from a government-funded institute told an international counterterrorism conference Tuesday.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Most of the suspects are believed held in Thailand's insurgency-torn south, where rebels in Muslim-majority provinces bordering Malaysia have launched bomb attacks and shootings since 2004, targeting mostly troops or police but also civilians.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The current prison population is three times larger tha </div>

<div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Anti-coup red-shirt activist Sombat Boonngarm-anong has said on Twitter that he wishes to help the junta tackle drug problems, that reds and yellows are united behind bars and that he befriended the anti-red-shirt "popcorn gunman".&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Thursday, Sombat tweeted on twitter.com/nuling a series on his experience in prison and a series. </div>

<div>The UN Committee Against Torture last week reviewed Thailand’s record on torture and inhumane treatment, and expressed concerns about Thailand’s prisons which house the 6th highest prison population in the world.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The issues of the prevalent use of torture in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces and conditions in refugee detention centres were also scrutinized by the panel of 10 experts.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This review taking place in Geneva is the first since Thailand became a signatory to the UN Convention Against Torture in 2007. </div>

<p><em>Translator’s note: This is a different kind of new year story. Every year, Buddhist New Year is observed from 13-15 April. People tend to spend the holiday with their family and friends. One part of the holiday involves “playing water,” which means to throw water and flour on friends and community members in a joyful and playful fashion. In this essay, Noom Rednon reflects on the four Songkrans between 2010 and 2013 he spent behind bars. “Playing water” takes on a new meaning behind bars.</em></p>