[Tauntenue]

RAISING THE BAR

Inmates graduating uni this year include some star pupils,

Writer: King-oua Laohong
Bangkok Post

Almost 270 inmates yesterday lined up to receive degrees from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University in a ceremony held behind bars by the Corrections Department.




A total of 269 inmates from 30 prisons across the country join a long-distance learning graduation ceremony yesterday inside Bang Kwang Prison. TAWATCHAI KEMGUMNERD

This year, 269 convicts from 30 prisons across the country have graduated from the university - with one inmate getting a gold medal in law and another earning his fifth degree.
The inmate graduates this year include Serm Sakhonrat, a former medical student who killed his girlfriend; Sorachart Sirichot, a former doctor who killed his girlfriend; and Boonlert Yaemporchai, a drug inmate who has earned five bachelor's degrees from the same university.

Relatives were invited to the ceremony at Bang Kwang Prison.
Serm, 33, has been in jail for 11 years and still has 40 more to serve.

He earned a bachelor's degree in law with a GPA of about 2. He now plans to enrol in a Chinese language course.
He thanked the Corrections Department and Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University for giving inmates the opportunity to study.

Sorachart, or Mor Ham, a former doctor at Buddhachinnarat Hospital in Phitsanulok who killed his girlfriend, also a doctor, yesterday played guitar and sang to inmates.
He has just obtained his second degree from the university.
He is serving 35 years and four months, commuted to 21 years, and has 14 years left to serve.

Boonlert, serving a life term for drug charges, said he now has degrees in law, agricultural extension and cooperatives, political science, agriculture and public administration.
He has been in jail for 18 years and six months and has 29 more to serve.
"I have spent about 10 years studying, or two years for each field," Boonlert said.
"Before I entered prison, I graduated from the faculty of business administration from the same university."

Niran Porthi, 39, a drug inmate who earned a gold medal in law, said he shunned education when he was young. He turned to study in jail as prison authorities gave inmates the opportunity to obtain an education.
He was sentenced to 23 years and four months, but received a partial pardon, which commuted his jail term to nine years.
He said he would like to be a legal consultant when he gets out on Nov 1.
He was not worried about his chances of finding work as he believed society would accept former inmates who had turned over a new leaf.

Over the past 25 years, 1,261 inmates have obtained a bachelor's degree. Three-hundred-and-sixty are still in jail. Law is the most popular field.