The COVID-19 infections of high-profile political activists behind bars is calling attention to what’s feared to be a brewing crisis in Thailand’s sizable prison population.
Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul today became the eighth activist known to have contracted the disease while jailed. With access to all prisons shut down in response to an outbreak, the official silence about what’s going on is fueling fears of a major health threat to the incarcerated.
“Before the day I was released, I learned that more than 50 people contracted the virus in the Central Women’s Correctional Institution, and I think right now that prison and others must have a large number of infected people,” Rung wrote, saying she had encountered dozens of infected inmates. “I demand the government and the Corrections Department immediately report the number of…
