The political prisoner detention centre at the old Bang Khen police private school is not luxurious and it did not get a makeover in advance of the arrival of high-profile red shirts, said the Corrections Department chief.
In fact, the facility is no different from the detention cell at a police station, department chief Suchart Wong-ananchai told the Bangkok Post Sunday.
"We did not decorate the facility to accommodate any VIPs," he said.
The department was responding to suggestions that the facility was being spruced up to receive high-profile political prisoners, including key red shirts.
A large number of red shirts currently detained at Khlong Prem Prison will be relocated to the centre on Dec 21.
It was widely believed the facility was being modernised in anticipation of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra's return from exile abroad to face a two-year jail term handed down by the Supreme Court in the Ratchadaphisek land case. It was thought he might spend time at the centre while seeking amnesty.
Red shirt leader Arisman Pongruangrong, currently detained in Khlong Prem on a charge of instigating an insurrection against the previous government, may also be brought to the centre.
Pol Col Suchart dismissed reports the centre was an air-conditioned VIP facility. "What we did was improve the interior by painting the bars in the cells in beige to make it feel more airy," he said.
The cells are similar in size to those at police stations, about 20 square metres.
In the past, the school housed political prisoners and those charged with communism-related offences. They were detained separately from criminal suspects.
Pol Col Suchart said no cell at the centre is air-conditioned. Each cell is equipped with a toilet but it's not a luxury commode _ the toilets have no doors. A one-metre wall partially obscures it from view.
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