Products made by prison inmates will be sold at PTT petrol stations, and the state-owned conglomerate will provide vocational training for inmates at the Justice Ministry under an agreement signed on Thursday.
Representatives of the ministry and PTT Oil and Retail Business Plc (PTTOR) signed the accord at PTT headquarters. It provides for a feasibility study into the sale of inmates' products at PTT petrol stations and vocational training for inmates at a facility to be set up in the ministry's grounds.
"It is aimed at returning good people to society. An initial study will look into the possibility of selling products made by inmates, those on probation and young people under observation, at about 1,600 PTT petrol stations and about 2,400 Amazon coffee shops," Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Prajin Juntong said at the signing ceremony.
Both organisations would also allow inmates about to be released from jail and those who were on probation to serve apprenticeships with PTTOR, so they would later have jobs and income and not return to crime.
Statistics showed that former prisoners were highly likely to commit crime again, ACM Prajin said.
The one-year project would start next month and could be extended, he said.
There were about 390,000 prisoners, 200,000 people on probation and about 30,000 young people under the supervision of the Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection, ACM Prajin said.
Attapol Rerkpiboon, chairman of PTTOR, said inmates made quality products and the company would distribute them in accordance with local demand.
A prototype PTT petrol station and coffee shop could be set up within the compound of the Justice Ministry to offer training to inmates, he said.