He stressed that overcrowding in Thai prisons will continue forever with the country if the authorities refuse to change the narcotic policies and approaches. According to Mr. Roujanavong, imprisonment creates more criminals due to stigmas attached to those who were imprisoned for small narcotic-related offences. It reduces the chance for them to be employed once they are released and leads them to crimes especially when they have gained crime networks from their encounter with other inmates during their sentence. In 2021, the Parliament of Thailand passed a bill on the new Narcotic Code to replace its Narcotic Acts. The new Code will employ social cum suppression approaches instead of the suppression only approach. Mr. Roujanavong stated that he is looking forward to seeing the effects of the new legislation on the society and prisons. b) Human Rights in Prison According to Mr. Roujanavong, prisons in Thailand treat prisoners in accordance with international instruments and standards as follows: • The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Mandela Rules) • The UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and NonCustodial Measures for Women Offenders (Bangkok Rules) • The UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) • The Correction Act of 2017 of Thailand Article 46 of the Correction Act 2017 states that, prisoners are granted the rights to lodge complaints to the Director-General of the Correction Department, the Minister of Justice, the National Human Rights Committee, the Ombudsman and His Majesty the King. c) Prison during the COVID-19 Pandemic Since April 2021, prisons in Thailand had encountered Delta variant of the COVID-19. Prisoners infected with COVID-19 until 18 November 2021 are 80,534 of which 72,175 had recovered. At the same time, 175 deaths were reported while 7,644 prisoners had received treatment inside and outside of prisons. Prisoners were treated with modern medicines and traditional herbs. Each prisoner was supplied with herbal capsules37 daily as a prevention measure and the result was highly effective. Most of infected prisoners displayed no symptoms. Many displayed mild symptoms and only a few of them 37 The herbal medicine is made from the bitter-tasting Kariyat (Andrographis Paniculate) listed in the Thailand’s “List of Essential Medicines”. 18