A majority of Thais disagree with corrections officials having the authority to approve prison sentence reductions and parole, according to an opinion survey by Nida Poll.
Asked whether they agree or disagree with the Department of Corrections' power to decide whether to cut convicts' jail terms or release them on parole, the answers varied as follows:
- 40.00% definitely disagree
- 19.47% definitely agree
- 19.16% somewhat disagree
- 18.01% somewhat agree
- 3.36% don't know/not interested
When asked if the department's parole committee should include qualified and neutral outsiders, the answers were:
- 41.69% definitely agree
- 24.58% somewhat agree
- 24.27% definitely disagree
- 8.70% somewhat disagree
- 0.76% don't know/not interested
The National Institute of Development Administration conducted the poll on Feb 20-22 by telephone interviews with 1,310 people aged 18 and over of various levels of education and occupations throughout the country.
On Feb 18, convicted ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra left Police General Hospital and returned to his residence on Charan Sanitwong 69 Road in Bang Phlat district after he was paroled. He never spent a single night in jail.
Judicial authorities said Thaksin met the criteria for parole because he is over 70 years old, seriously ill and is considered to have served at least six months of his jail term despite being admitted to Police General Hospital.