Bangkok Post

THAILAND: Lethal injections next year

Execution of death row prisoners by lethal injection will begin next year.

Corrections Department chief Siwa Saengmanee yesterday said preparations were under way to introduce the new method of execution which would replace death by shooting.

Mr Siwa said a medical team set up by Interior Minister Purachai Piumsombun was studying which chemicals should be used for executions.

A mixture of three drugs is usually used overseas: sodium thiopental, commercially known as sodium pentothal, which induces sleep; pancuronium bromide, which stops breathing; and potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

Mr Siwa said Mr Purachai also wanted the department to build a morgue and appoint a 2nd team of doctors to verify the death of an executed prisoner.

He said 20-30 convicts would be executed by shooting this year with about 300 others on death row appealing against the death penalty.

Mr Siwa also said the department was considering using pepper and garlic sprays and rubber bullets against attempted jailbreakers instead of guns.

"We want to deal with them in a non-violent way," he said.

Prison rules also would be tightened after warders at Bang Kwang maximum security jail found a mobile telephone microchip hidden in a cob of corn given to a prisoner by his relatives. The discovery indicated there was an illegal mobile telephone inside the prison.