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The 2013-2015 pilot projects were operated solely by the Department of

Probation without the involvement of other justice agencies. The Department
signed a contract with a private company to procure and provide maintenance

for EM devices but retained responsibility for monitoring offenders. Due to

budget restraints the probation pilot was temporarily suspended in 2016; it
resumed operation in January 2019.

More recently, a new pilot program was developed, which would test

the use of EM as an alternative to money bail. Of 600,000 offenders charged

in Thailandûs courts of first instance annually, 200,000 are granted bail (Office

of the Judiciary, 2018). Most are required to post money or security to the

courts as a bail bond. Registered bail bondsmen provide loans for accused
detainees who cannot afford bail, for a fee. Some insurance companies also

offer liberty policies for the accused, but typically limit their risk to only a

handful of cases. As a result, poor offenders who cannot afford to post bail
or pay the bond fee await their trial in jail.

Dissatisfied with the money bail system and recognizing the potential

of electronic monitoring from having observed the Department of Probationûs

EM pilot project, Thailandûs Office of the Judiciary, the administrative office

of the Judicial Branch, drafted a bill to introduce EM as a bail condition in

Thailandûs criminal justice system. Introduced in 2015, the program advanced
with remarkable speed. The bill was enacted by the National Legislative

Assembly, (Criminal Procedure Code Amendment Act No. 30) and took

effect on December 31 2015. The Act authorized the courts to permit the
use of EM as an alternative bail conditionfiEM would be an option, not a

requirement, and the accused must consent to being placed on EM. The

new law left many details to be worked out, including how the program

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