The recent death of Pol Col Thitisan "Joe Ferrari" Utthanapon, who was serving a life sentence at Klongprem Central Prison in Bangkok, casts more doubt over the integrity of the country's corrections system.
Over the past several years, there have been reports of deadly prison brawls as well as sporadic prison breaks. Several political prisoners have died in detention, while others are rumoured to be given the VIP treatment.
However, the Department of Corrections has suspiciously remained tight-lipped over the past few years, choosing to remain silent over clearing any doubt the public may have over its ability to manage the country's prison system. That is exactly how the death of the policeman-turned-prisoner snowballed into a public scandal.
Pol Col Thitisan was a former police officer who was sentenced to life in prison in 2021 for torturing a drug suspect. On Friday, he was found dead from a suspected suicide in a solitary confinement cell.
The news of his death was met with widespread scepticism, as just two months ago, Pol Col Thitisan's family had sought to press charges against a high-ranking prison guard who oversaw the section where he was incarcerated. According to him, the guard often picked fights with inmates, even other prison guards.
This led Pol Col Thitisan's family to reject the explanation provided by the Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS), which said Pol Col Thitisan committed suicide by hanging, using a small towel as a makeshift noose.
On Sunday, the Corrections Department released CCTV footage that showed no one entering Thitisan's cell after he went in at 3pm on Friday. To their surprise, the clip did little to dispel rumours surrounding the convict's death.
The lack of public trust in the department is a crisis of its own doing. The agency has often been criticised for keeping mum when asked to explain the death of a number of notable prisoners.
An example is the death of Ampol Tangnoppakul, or Ah Gong, a 64-year-old inmate who died in 2011 while serving time for a lese majeste offence. Ah Gong, who was suffering from liver cancer, was treated at the prison's medical facility instead of a hospital, where he would have received better care. The department never explained why it decided to treat him in prison.
In May last year, activist Netiporn Saneysangkhom died of a heart attack at the Central Correctional Hospital after undergoing a hunger strike for 108 days. The DoC never published her medical records, even in the face of mounting pressure.
The DoC has also been criticised for failing to substantiate its decision to send former premier Thaksin Shinawatra to the Police General Hospital, where he ultimately served his entire sentence.
Pol Col Thitisan was not "Mr Nice Guy". He was a corrupt cop, and it remains unclear how he had over 1.2 billion baht in his bank accounts. However, he had gone through the due processes and was serving a life sentence for his crimes, so the DoC was responsible for ensuring the court's verdict was upheld.
Faced with mounting public pressure, the DoC transferred the prison guard, who had been reported by Pol Col Thitisan's family over bullying claims.
The question is, why now? A probe should have been carried out earlier instead of after his death. Unless the government explains what happened in a transparent manner, public confidence in the justice system will erode further.