Section 191: Freeing a person from custody
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดกระทำด้วยประการใดให้ผู้ที่ถูกคุมขังตามอำนาจของศาล ของพนักงานอัยการ ของพนักงานสอบสวน หรือของเจ้าพนักงานผู้มีอำนาจสืบสวนคดีอาญา หลุดพ้นจากการคุมขังไป ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกไม่เกินห้าปี หรือปรับไม่เกินหนึ่งแสนบาท หรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ ถ้าผู้ที่หลุดพ้นจากการคุมขังไปนั้นเป็นบุคคลที่ต้องคำพิพากษาจากศาลหนึ่งศาลใดให้ลงโทษประหารชีวิต จำคุกตลอดชีวิต หรือจำคุกตั้งแต่สิบห้าปีขึ้นไป หรือมีจำนวนตั้งแต่สามคนขึ้นไป ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่หกเดือนถึงเจ็ดปี และปรับตั้งแต่หนึ่งหมื่นบาทถึงหนึ่งแสนสี่หมื่นบาท ถ้าความผิดตามมาตรานี้ได้กระทำโดยใช้กำลังประทุษร้าย หรือโดยขู่เข็ญว่าจะใช้กำลังประทุษร้าย หรือโดยมีหรือใช้อาวุธปืนหรือวัตถุระเบิด ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษหนักกว่าโทษที่กฎหมายบัญญัติไว้ในสองวรรคก่อนกึ่งหนึ่ง หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๖ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever, by any means, causes a person held in confinement under the authority of a court, a public prosecutor, an inquiry official, or an official having power to investigate criminal cases, to be released from confinement, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding five years, or a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand baht, or both.
If the person released from confinement is a person sentenced by any court to death, imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of fifteen years or more, or where there are three or more such persons, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment from six months to seven years and a fine from ten thousand baht to one hundred and forty thousand baht.
If the offense under this section is committed by using violence, by threatening to use violence, or by having or using a firearm or an explosive, the offender shall be liable to a penalty heavier by one half than that provided in the two preceding paragraphs.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
The elements are: (1) a person lawfully held in confinement by one of the listed authorities; and (2) an act by any means that causes that person to be released from confinement. Unlike Section 190 (self-escape), Section 191 targets a third party who springs the detainee. Paragraph two aggravates by the seriousness of the freed person's sentence (death, life, or 15 years or more) or by numbers (three or more), and paragraph three adds a one-half increase for violence, threats, firearms, or explosives. A threshold condition is that the person was actually in lawful custody; if there was no valid confinement, the offense is not made out. Section 192 addresses subsequently harboring an escapee.
Why this matters in practice
This is a serious charge because the base tier already reaches five years and rises sharply with the freed person's sentence or with any weapon. A recurring defense is that the person was never actually in lawful custody: if the detainee had not yet been secured under an official's control, freeing or aiding them does not complete the offense. Any firearm or explosive raises every tier by one half, so weapon involvement is the key aggravating fact to assess. Anyone accused of helping a detainee escape should seek criminal law advice in Thailand early.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 7322/2557 (2014)
Section 191 requires that the person was actually held in lawful custody; where officers had not yet been able to arrest and secure the person, the defendant's act does not constitute the offense.
Because officers had not yet succeeded in arresting the person, he was not in the custody of an official with investigative power, so the defendant's conduct did not amount to an offense under Section 191, even though it was violence toward an official under Section 138 paragraph two.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 5681/2568 (2025)
The aggravated firearm paragraph (Section 191 paragraph three) reflects a legislative policy against firearm involvement; a firearm carried and ready for use in committing the offense triggers the aggravation even if not fired.
Discussing firearm aggravation across several provisions, the court cited Section 191 paragraph three as an example, explaining that a firearm close at hand and ready to be used suffices given the serious danger firearms present.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 16 Supreme Court decisions (1960 to 2025)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 7322/2557 (2014)
- Decision 2535/2550 (2007)
- Decision 3031/2547 (2004)
- Decision 598/2538 (1995)
- Decision 2861/2522 (1979)
- Decision 2159/2518 (1975)
- Decision 1338/2517 (1974)
- Decision 391/2509 (1966)
This list is selected automatically, weighted towards judgments that turn on this section rather than ones that merely recite it when passing sentence. It has not yet been reviewed by the firm.
Most often cited alongside
- Section 157 8
- Section 91 6
- Section 90 6
- Section 83 6
- Section 140 5
- Section 204 5
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
Counted across the firm's corpus of 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The count is complete; the stated year range trims rare outliers so it describes where the citations actually sit. These figures are computed by us and are not official court statistics. How we count these, and what we measured
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Section 190 and Section 191?
Section 190 punishes the detainee who escapes on their own; Section 191 punishes a third party who frees a person held in lawful custody. Section 191 carries a higher base penalty, up to five years.
Is it a defense that the person was not properly under arrest?
Yes. Section 191 requires that the person was actually held in lawful custody. If the person had not been secured under an official's control, freeing or aiding them does not constitute the offense.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 191 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 191. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-191/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 191 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-191/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-191/"><p>Whoever, by any means, causes a person held in confinement under the authority of a court, a public prosecutor, an inquiry official, or an official having power to investigate criminal cases, to be released from confinement, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding five years,…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 191 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-191/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.