Prison system sets up new accommodations for LGBT inmates
Bangkok’S Min Buri and Klong Prem prisons as well as Chon Buri’s Pattaya Prison have arranged separate zones to house self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender prisoners separate from non-LGBT prisoners, Department of Corrections director-general Kobkiat Kasiwiwat said on March 22. The move makes Thailand among the first countries to provide such accommodation for LGBT inmates. Reporting on the progress of the department’s plan to separately house LGBT inmates as proposed by various agencies and human right groups, Kobkiat said prisons did not currently incarcerate many LGBT inmates making it difficult to justify separate facilities for them. He added that transferring LGBT prisoners from various jails to a single facility could also mentally affect them and pose difficulties for family visits, he said.
