Section 27: Changing confinement into imprisonment
Statutory text (Thai original)
ถ้าในระหว่างที่ผู้ต้องโทษกักขังตามมาตรา ๒๓ ได้รับโทษกักขังอยู่ความปรากฏแก่ศาลเอง หรือปรากฏแก่ศาลตามคำแถลงของพนักงานอัยการหรือผู้ควบคุมดูแลสถานที่กักขังว่า (๑) ผู้ต้องโทษกักขังฝ่าฝืนระเบียบ ข้อบังคับ หรือวินัยของสถานที่กักขัง (๒) ผู้ต้องโทษกักขังไม่ปฏิบัติตามเงื่อนไขที่ศาลกำหนด หรือ (๓) ผู้ต้องโทษกักขังต้องคำพิพากษาให้ลงโทษจำคุก ศาลอาจเปลี่ยนโทษกักขังเป็นโทษจำคุกมีกำหนดเวลาตามที่ศาลเห็นสมควร แต่ต้องไม่เกินกำหนดเวลาของโทษกักขังที่ผู้ต้องโทษกักขังจะต้องได้รับต่อไป
English translation
If, while a person sentenced to confinement under Section 23 is undergoing that confinement, it appears to the court itself, or appears to the court on the statement of the public prosecutor or of the person in charge of the place of confinement, that:
(1) the person under confinement has violated the rules, regulations, or discipline of the place of confinement;
(2) the person under confinement has failed to comply with a condition fixed by the court; or
(3) the person under confinement has been sentenced by judgment to imprisonment,
the court may change the punishment of confinement into imprisonment for such term as the court thinks fit, but not exceeding the remaining term of confinement that the person would otherwise have had to undergo.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Section 27 is the enforcement backstop for the confinement regime built by Sections 23 to 26. It gives the court a sanction against a confined person who breaches the facility's rules or a court-imposed condition, or who receives an imprisonment sentence: the remaining confinement can be converted into an equal term of imprisonment. The conversion is measured by the confinement time still left, not the original full term. Because the power is the court's, questions have arisen historically over which court may order the conversion, underscoring that the change from confinement to prison is a judicial act, not an administrative one.
Why this matters in practice
The practical warning is clear: a confinement sentence is not a free pass. Breaching the facility's rules, breaking a court condition (for example leaving home confinement against the terms), or picking up a fresh prison sentence can convert the balance of confinement into actual imprisonment. Anyone serving confinement should treat the conditions seriously, because the downside of non-compliance is prison for the time that was left.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 403/2517 (1974)
Where a confined person breaches the rules of the place of confinement, Section 27 empowers the court to change the confinement into imprisonment; the case concerned the authority to make that conversion.
The officer in charge of the place of confinement reported that the defendant had breached its rules and discipline and appeared to be seeking a way to escape, and asked that the confinement be changed to imprisonment under Section 27. The defendant admitted the report was true, and the first court ordered the confinement changed to one year's imprisonment; the case turned on the authority to make that conversion.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 12 Supreme Court decisions (1960 to 2015)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 12464/2558 (2015)
- Decision 3396/2524 (1981)
- Decision 403/2517 (1974)
- Decision 8660/2558 (2015)
- Decision 7407/2553 (2010)
- Decision 5941/2541 (1998)
- Decision 781/2535 (1992)
- Decision 3711/2534 (1991)
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 29 7
- Section 30 5
- Section 83 4
- Section 91 4
- Section 90 3
- Section 31 3
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 happens if I break the rules during confinement?
Under Section 27, the court may change the remaining confinement into imprisonment for a term equal to the confinement time left if you violate the facility's rules or a court condition.
Who decides to convert confinement into imprisonment?
The court decides. Under Section 27, converting confinement into imprisonment is a judicial order, not an administrative act of the confinement facility.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 27 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 27. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-27/ (accessed 20 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 27 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-27/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-27/"><p>If, while a person sentenced to confinement under Section 23 is undergoing that confinement, it appears to the court itself, or appears to the court on the statement of the public prosecutor or of the person in charge of the place of confinement, that: (1)…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 27 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-27/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.