When the clock struck midnight on August 23, the walls of the Bangkok Remand Prison were left behind for the clinical whites of the Police General Hospital. Such a change of scenery wasn’t the norm for most, but for the former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra, his new temporary residence came with an unshakable cloud of controversy and critique, spotlighted by none other than Chonthicha Jangrew of the Move Forward Party on the parliamentary stage.
Indeed, the very fabric of justice seemed to undulate under the weight of favoritism—how could it be that Thaksin was granted something as plush as a 14th floor special room, when others, like political activist Ekachai Hongkangwan fared with treatments cut short and returns to far less accommodating DoC healthcare facilities?
“What about the everyman? The common inmate?” one could almost hear the echoes of this implicit question, as Ms. Chonthicha cast her piercing inquiry across the parliamentary expanse, summoning an explanation from Justice Minister Pol Col Tawee Sodsong—a figure now entwined in a dance of distancing from the Department of Corrections’ decree.
The Minister, poised in response but with a touch of deflection, clung to the no-report-yet defense while simultaneously dipping into the health narrative that portrays the ex-premier as a patient grappling with the grips of pain, hypertension, and cardiomyopathy. “A sick man,” they said, perhaps invoking visions of an ailing leader rather than a privileged prisoner.
Then came the clarifications—or ambiguities dressed as such. The 14th floor was not a perk but a necessity, a sanctuary for safety prescribed by the DoC. And that new-fangled rule? Not for Thaksin alone, they protested, but for any that matched its criteria—an open door policy for selective segregation.
The aroma of change was in the air as Pol Col Tawee served a potential new penitentiary precedent—detainees during police inquiry could be ‘elsewhere,’ flexing under judicial judgment. It’s the riddle of reform versus reproof, with prison walls that were too crowded and management mechanisms that were dragging their heels since 2017.
Activating a new gear, the DoC’s decree from December 6 rolled out, promising a mix-up of where inmates can bide their time—with criteria as the gatekeeper and registered addresses as potential homestays away from home, a far cry from the barred backdrop of Bangkok Remand Prison.
And what of Thaksin, now 74, back from a self-imposed exile of 15 years, with sentences summing up to eight in the docket? On the night of his return, he transitioned from convict to patient, with the Police General Hospital as his haven—health as his harbor in the storm of systems and scrutiny. Yet, as the debate spills into the streets and spirits of the Thai people, one can’t help but wonder if the scales of justice will indeed find a balance, or if the shadows of doubt and disparity will continue to cast their long, unyielding lines.
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