Electronic ankle bracelets will be used on offenders in lieu of jail terms at 23 courts nationwide Thursday under a pilot project to ease overcrowding in prisons.
Sarawut Benjakul, secretary-general of the Office of the Judiciary, and Prasarn Mahaleetrakul, director-general of the Probation Department, signed a memorandum of understanding Tuesday on the use of electronic tagging to reduce the number of inmates in correctional facilities.
The bracelets will track the movements of offenders who are released on bail, put on probation or who are on parole. They will not have to stay in jail but they will have to wear the tracking bracelets so authorities can keep an eye on them.
The devices will transmit information about the offenders' whereabouts to a monitoring centre which can then track them around the clock.
Mr Sarawut said if offenders lack the funds to post a surety bond and do not commit any serious offence, the courts must consider the use of ankle bracelets.
A total of 5,000 electronic bracelets at a cost of 80.8 million baht will be used on suspects and defendants in criminal cases.
Some 600 of the devices will be used at the Criminal Court in Bangkok and another 600 at Min Buri Court.
An officer at the Electronic Monitoring Centre demonstrates how an electronic ankle bracelet is used to track the movements of offenders who are released on bail, put on probation or who are out on parole. photos by Patipat Janthong
The South Bangkok Criminal Court and Thon Buri Criminal Court will each be given 300 tracking devices, while another 50 will be used at the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases, Mr Sarawut said.
Another 10,000 will be distributed to other courts of justice next year, he said, adding their usage will be assessed annually. It is not certain how quickly the overcrowding problem will be offset as that will depend on the take-up rate by the courts.
These devices immediately alert court authorities if the wearer breaks their bail or parole conditions.
If they attempt to escape or harm anyone they can be tracked down quickly, he said.
Kampol Rungrat, a chief judge attached to the Office of the Supreme Court President, said the bracelets weigh just 230g even when fitted with a GPS system.
If an offender breaks the conditions of his bail, leaves the permitted area or tries to destroy the device, it will respond by sending electronic signals to the monitoring centre so a judge can consider issuing an arrest warrant, Mr Kampol said.