Amended legislation is being considered to resolve the problem of overcrowding in the nation's prisons.
The Department of Corrections is proposing amendments of the Corrections Act 1936 to ease overcrowding in 143 prisons.
One strategy would be to move prisoners to more suitable facilities to learn skills such as agricultural, cooking or handicrafts.
This would help redistribute the prison population.
But the main purpose of the amendments will focus on improving management of inmates, increasing numbers of corrections staff and the organisation of restructuring, Corrections Department director-general Witthaya Suriyawong said yesterday.
There are 327,552 prisoners at 143 jails nationwide. Each year, the number of people being incarcerated exceeds those being freed.
About 70% of the entire number of inmates had been prosecuted in narcotics cases, he said.
Despite the department's previous efforts to ease prison overcrowding, the problem persists, he said. Measures implemented to improve the problem included discharging certain groups of prisoners before their due dates for release and using electronic tagging to track them.
That has highlighted the need for a new system to re-group the prison population, Mr Witthaya said.
"Those prisoners who like to do agricultural work should be transferred to Khao Phrik Agriculture Industry Prison in Nakhon Ratchasima, while female inmates who have a fondness of cooking and handicrafts should be transferred to the Central Women's Correctional Institution," he said.
However, these possibilities could be implemented only after the amendment to the law and issuance of four sets of ministerial regulations, Mr Witthaya said.
In addition, when amended, the Corrections Act will also grant relevant corrections officials with the authority to, within 48 hours, search places suspected of being hideouts for inmates who have broken out of jail.