Justice Ministry: Ankle bracelets promote justice

BANGKOK, March 2 (TNA) -- The Justice Ministry on Thursday applies electronic monitoring (EM) ankle bracelets to provide people with access to justice and the project would not significantly relieve prison congestion in the near future, the ministry’s spokesman said. Regarding the initial application of 5,000 EM bracelets instead of bail, Suriyan Hongwilai, spokesman of the Justice Ministry, said the project was intended mainly to promote equal access to justice because there had been criticisms that the poor could not afford bail. Efforts to relieve prison congestion were not the main objective of the project. Mr Suriyan said the EM devices could be really used only when suspects and defendants agreed. The ministry would assess the monitoring effectiveness of the devices. If the project proved in a year that the EM system was stable and was warmly welcomed, the ministry would proceed with the application and expand it nationwide. The project’s benefits would then be obvious, the Justice Ministry’s spokesman said. (TNA)