Bangkok - Bangkok's Ban Kwan Central Prison has passed out college degrees to 269 inmates who have used their time behind bars to get an education, media reports said Friday. The maximum-security prison held a graduation ceremony Thursday for the inmates who had earned degrees from Sukhothai Thammasat Open University via mail courses.
Among this year's batch of successful graduates was Serm Sakhonrat, a former medical student who murdered his girlfriend and has 40 more years to serve before he may put his new bachelor's degree in law into practice.
Boonlert Yaemporchai, who is serving a life sentence for drug trafficking, picked up his fifth degree after completing courses in agriculture and public administration. Over the past 18 years in jail, he has also earned degrees in law, agricultural extension and cooperatives, and political science.
"Before I entered prison, I graduated from the faculty of business administration from the same university," Boonlert told the Bangkok Post newspaper.
Thailand's Department of Corrections has been offering college courses to inmates nationwide since 1984 to help with their rehabilitation.
Of the 5,359 inmates to enrol in the programme, 1,261 have obtained bachelor's degrees.
