Raymond Yu, Managing Partner & Jakkongthamm Akul Pathika, Attorney at Law
In recent years, more and more Taiwanese have been imprisoned in Thailand because of their involvement in criminal cases. Many defendants’ family have no clue when they try to visit the defendant or the suspect. Relevant information is hard to obtain due to the language and cultural differences. On the other hand, English-speaking Thai lawyers who are experienced with foreign affairs seldom take criminal cases, causing many defendants’ family to have problem finding a lawyer in Thailand. Even Some fall for scams when finding some lawyers claimed to be legitimate but they are actually not. Therefore, through the case sharing, Raymond hopes the defendants’ family can get a better understanding of how to interview and correspond with defendants under detention.
1.Transportation
There are three prisons in Bangkok, all of which are in the suburbs of Bangkok. Simply put, the subway will not get there. It can only be reached by train, bus, taxi or on foot. In fact, it is also very convenient to go by driving a car. Just tell the guard at the gate that you want to visit the prison, and the guard will allow you to go. The prison is very large which means that if you take a taxi to get off at the entrance of the prison, you may have to walk a long way to reach the meeting place. There is usually a parking lot next to the visitor center, so it will be more convenient to drive directly into the prison.
2.Restriction on visiting defendants
The client (hereinafter referred to as the defendant) can fill the names up to 10 people after entering a prison. The prison staff will confirm whether the visitors are the persons on the list of 10 people. There is a great possibility to be rejected if the visitors are not one of the names or lawyers. In the author’s own experience, the lawyers mentioned above also include foreign lawyers, which means the prison side will also allow foreign lawyers to visit defendants.
3.Time limit
It is usually open from 8:20AM to 2:30PM. Only some days are open to visitors. The number of days per week varies from prison to prison. It’s better to call the prison to be sure about the open days. It allows to visit defendants 20 minutes once a day. It’s necessary to bring a passport and fill an application.
4.Making deposit and buying necessities
It’s allowed to make deposit and buy necessities for defendants. You can save 3000 baht every time and the amount of the account must not exceed 9,000 baht. Defendants can only take out a maximum of 300 baht a day and can only buy a limited number of things.
5.Attorney visit
The attorney visits include visits by Thai attorneys and foreign attorneys. There are two benefits of attorney visits. One is no need to line up with others. Second is there is no time limit. However, the author previously applied to visit the defendant in the Thai Prison as a Taiwan attorney. Although the author obtained the permission, it does not mean that this is the general practice of Thai prisons. Taiwan lawyers must bring the passport, lawyer’s license, and application form when applying for attorney visits.
6.Other reminders
Defendants are usually told to pay amount of money to get out of the prison or be acquitted which turns out to be judicial scalpers. There are some difficulties when Taiwanese deal with Thai criminal cases including (1) culture differences (2) language barriers (3) information asymmetry (4) judicial scalpers (5) difficult to find lawyers. The author suggests defendants’ family looking for professional Thai legal consultants and asking for help from Taiwan embassies. It’s better to take action after preliminary investigation and confirmation of the facts.