Thailand urged to join in reducing global prisoners for Covid-19

After it was revealed that nearly 3,000 inmates in Thailand’s prison system have Covid-19, criticism and calls are mounting to follow the global trend of reducing the total number of prisoners in the country. Human rights groups are calling for the release of inmates held on minor charges, with Amnesty International Thailand requesting those in “unnecessary custody to be minimised” in an open letter sent to the Supreme Court president and Justice Ministry on Tuesday.

Covid-19 outbreaks in prison have been a problem for many countries, with the United Kingdom identifying 12,000 infections and considering plans to prioritise vaccinations for those incarceration facilities. The United States, a country with one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks and the largest prison population in the world, saw 612,000 prisoner infections.

Amnesty International argued that over 600,000 inmates…