The chief of the prison guards in Zone 7 of Khlong Prem prison has been transferred to facilitate an investigation into the apparent suicide of former police officer Thitisan Uttanaphon, who was found dead in his solitary confinement cell last Friday.
Pol Lt-Col Shane Karnjanapach, deputy director-general of the Corrections Department, said today that the investigation panel has been given 30 days to complete the probe.
To ensure transparency, he said the panel will comprise representatives from the Royal Thai Police, the Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Provincial Administration Department, adding that the probe will be wide ranging and will include an examination of any disputes between the deceased and other prisoners or prison guards.
Shane maintains that the Corrections Department did not ignore a complaint from Thitisan’s mother, who asked that he be moved out of a solitary cell, claiming that the complaint did not comply with the department’s procedure.
He claimed, however, that a panel had been set up to consider the complaint.
He said that the chief guard of Zone 7,”Sitthiporn”, has a clean record, with no complaints of mistreatment of prisoners, but admitted that Thitisan had been involved in a dispute with another inmate.
Expressing his condolences to the family of Thitisan, the deputy director-general said that he was a senior to Thitisan at the Police Academy and that the investigation will be fair and transparent.
