Prison Health, A New Dimension of Thai Corrections to Social Security: Interaction in the Management of Prison Health Between Transgender Inmate and Correctional Officer

Abstract

This article aims to present the interaction of health management in prisons between transgender inmates and correctional officers as well as to offer guidelines for health management in prisons suitable for transgender inmates under the concept of health prison, which is a new paradigm in the treatment of prisoners which meets international standards by using qualitative research regulations according to the concept of phenomenology. The data are collected from informal in-depth interviews with participant observations, from two groups of key informants: seven transgender inmates and five operational staff. The theoretical concepts used in the study consist of gender diversity concept, concepts related to prison society and power relations, concept of human rights of inmates and concepts related to health.

The findings show that the most important element in the prison is the dimension of humanity. Since the prison is directly related to humans with two important groups of people “inmates” and “correctional officers”, health management in prisons will have the highest efficiency and effectiveness depending on the interaction between them. In addition, the understanding of diversity and gender sensitivity of transgender inmates, which is different from male and female inmates, can affect the interaction of people from both sides.