<div>Despite Thailand’s famously appalling prison conditions, some ex-prisoners are preferring reimprisonment over the challenge of reintegrating into society.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The punitive slant of Thailand’s judicial system threatens offenders with heavy sanctions, but offers few rehabilitation mechanisms to address the difficulties inmates face upon returning to life outside the prison gates. </div>

<p dir="ltr">After two years behind bars, a former engineering student convicted under the lèse majesté law is determined to go back to school and begin a new life.</p> <p>On 23 June 2016, Akaradej (last name withheld due to privacy concerns), a former engineering student, was released after serving two years and three days in prison for offences under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law, and Article 14 of the 2007 Computer Crime Act, a law against importation of illegal computer contents.</p>

<div> <p dir="ltr">Court sentences man posting lese majeste FB comments to five years in jail</p> <p dir="ltr">The Criminal Court on Tuesday morning sentenced <a href="http://freedom.ilaw.or.th/en/case/577#summary">Akaradej</a> (last name withheld due to privacy concerns) to five years in jail for his comments on a friend’s Facebook, but since the defendant pleaded guilty, the jail term was halved to two years and six months. &nbsp;</p> </div>

<div>&nbsp;</div> <div><a href="http://prachatai.org/english/node/4338">Akaradej</a>&nbsp;(last name withheld due to privacy concerns) on Tuesday pleaded guilty before the Court to posting comments deemed lèse majesté on Facebook. </div>

<div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <div>The public prosecutor on Thursday indicted an undergraduate student under the lèse majesté law and the Computer Crime Act for a Facebook comment.&nbsp;</div> </div>