INMATES SQUAT AS THEY WAIT FOR FOOD IN A BANGKOK JAIL, 2000-08-22 (photo)

Hundreds of prisoners squat as they line up for a bowl of rice and dried fish in the overcrowded Klongprem prison in Bangkok August 22, 2000, where over 6,200 inmates are serving sentences on drug-related charges. Thailand's Department of Corrections claims that there are now over 200,000 prisoners in its 133 prisons nationwide, double the number of just three years ago, a legacy of recent laws which allow street-level drug users to be jailed. Thailand is looking at better solutions to overcome the prison burden of drug addicts, like introducing a rural project where low-risk offenders go to work on government-sponsored plantations. JIR