DEATH ROW EXPANDS FOR DRUG INMATES

Death row at Bang Khwang maximum security prison is to be expanded to take
on more drug convicts, said the Corrections Department.

The expansion scheme comes a day after the Criminal Court on Wednesday
sentenced 19 people to death for drugs crimes involving trafficking in more
than two million methamphetamine pills.

Siwa Saengmanee, the department's director-general, said there were more
than 300 prisoners on death row at Bang Khwang, and the 19 would be
detained there.

To make way for expansion, prisoners serving less than 30 years would be
transferred to prisons in provinces such as Ratchaburi and Nakhon Si
Thammarat, he said.

Mr Siwa said security would also be tightened. Inmates convicted of
trafficking in more than 10,000 speed pills would be put under close watch.

It was the department's job to serve the justice system and he would tell
the Interior Ministry if there was a budget problem.