Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the difference between Thai prison and Immigration detention. I think most folks really don't understand that there is a pretty wild difference between these two things. At the end of the day if you are incarcerated, it is probably a semantic point, the difference between Thai Immigration and the prison system. 

That said, I thought of making a video after reading a recent article from the Thai Examiner, that is thaiexaminer.com, the article is titled: Former Danish hotel owner just released from prison faces another, longer stretch, behind bars. "A 65-year-old Dane, a former hotel owner from Ko Phangnan, is living the ultimate Thai nightmare after being released from an Immigration Bureau Detention Centre on Tuesday following nearly two months inside. However, on the 21st of December, the European national, left nearly destitute after the failure of his business in 2020, faces the prospect of a prison sentence of two and a half years being confirmed by the Court of Appeal in Samui." Off the top of my head, can one be a European National. If they are a Danish passport holder it is in the EU, but you are still a Danish national I would think.

Quoting further: "The couple were sentenced to two and a half years in prison after a financial deal to compensate the British complainant in a criminal case filed with police fell through due to complications which arose due to the Dane's Immigration status." Again, as usual, Thai Examiner goes into great detail, a lot of good information in there, a lot of good data points. I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that other article in detail. 

That said, for our purposes in this video yes, there is a difference between prison and Immigration detention. In fact, we have dealt with cases over the years where someone has served their time in the Thai Penal System and then had to serve more time in detention while awaiting deportation in an Immigration Detention Centre. In most of those cases we have ended up assisting and expediting deportation for them, trying to get them out of the country sooner rather than later, because quite honestly Thai Immigration detention facilities, not a place you particularly want to be.

That said, again the thing to take away from this video, Immigration detention is a different thing than the Thai Penal System. It is sort of almost kind of its own little parallel apparatus if you will, sort of its own little parallel bureaucracy. They have their own detention centres, they even have some of their own adjudicatory processes and again being in one doesn't necessarily mean any time is being counted off of from being in the other. So again, I think most people, yeah if you are incarcerated it is probably is very much a semantic point. But for those who want to know how it works, yes there is a difference between standard Thai jail and Immigration lockup.