Thai prisoners reduce their prison sentences by cleaning the clogged sewers in Bangkok, an unrewarding task but it allows them to spend a few hours on the street and helps alleviate recurring floods in the capital.
This Friday a gang of more than twenty volunteer inmates were working near the old tobacco factory, where they descended into the sewers to remove dark mud with buckets and also unclog the pipes with a rope system.
"Prisoners coming out of prison they can reduce their sentences. For example, if they work for a month, they will have one less month in prison"Anek Kaewdam, prison official in charge of this program, explains by phone to Efe.
"As for salaries, 70 percent (after deducting gasoline and food expenses) goes to the prisoners and the 30 percent for prison finances"adds Anek, although he does not reveal how much money it is.
The official assures that the prisoners clean the sewers more thoroughly than the city council workers, who do it in a more superficial way.
Cleaning the sewers of the capital started last July 1 and lasts for 150 days, which coincides with the monsoon season, when floods from the capital due to heavy rains.
Inmates from different prisons volunteered and a committee elected about 1,000, who must serve a sentence for the first time and cannot have committed crimes against national security or the monarchy.
This inmate sewer cleaning program began 30 years ago, but was discontinued in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the past, about 40 inmates used to participate, but this time only 25 have been chosen due to restrictions due to the pandemic and fear of contagion.
According to the World Prison Web, Thailand is the tenth country in the world with the highest ratio of prisoners, with 411 per 100,000 people, with a prison population that triples the capacity of prisons.
The reduction of sentences through work is one of the policies that seek to reduce the overcrowding of prisons, in addition to allowing prisoners to enter.