Pretrial remand (detention)

Pretrial remand is custody imposed by a court (or, less commonly, the police) on an accused person before guilt has been established. The World Prison Brief recorded the Thai pretrial share at 22.5% of the prison population in July 2024 — meaning roughly one in every five Thai inmates has not been convicted of anything. Combined with §78's plea discount, long remand creates a structural incentive to plead: months of detention often outweigh the discounted sentence on offer, so even an innocent defendant has a rational reason to confess and go home.