Behind the weather-beaten off-white high walls topped with electrical fences that discharge energy at an intensity of 3,500 volts, Dao* is serving a three-year jail term for embezzlement. Completely shut out from the world, her every movement is closely watched through extensive video surveillance. Freedom, for her, seems to no longer exist.
But although the lack of liberty at Uthai Thani Provincial Prison where Dao is serving her penalty may be on a par with that of any prison in the world, at one corner of the compound known as "Lady's Turf", inmates have been promised they can at least feel like women.
"It's my bad luck to be in jail, but I find myself lucky to be here," said Dao, 33, who is now halfway through her sentence.
In September, Uthai Thani Provincial Prison became the first-ever prison in Thailand certified as a model for female prisons according to the Bangkok Rules, the Thailand-born United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders. Adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2010, the Bangkok Rules feature 70 major regulations, which are subdivided into a total of 165 rules that serve as guidelines for policymakers, legislators and sentencing authorities as well as prison staff to highlight the rights and particular needs of women in prison. Certification was given by Thailand Institute of Justice (TIJ), a semi-private organisation, with one of its primary goals being to promote the implementation of the Bangkok Rules.
At Uthai Thani Provincial Prison's Women Division, female inmates are never to be touched by male prison guards for body-scanning or shackled when delivering babies. They are allowed to be with their newborns, raising them in a nursery that has a baby-friendly atmosphere similar to one in the outside world. They have a say in controlling visitors to protect themselves from coming across those who may have abused them and get to partake in activities and workshops that are developed from their interests.
The 400m² area, which is no longer expandable due to the prison compound's fixed size, is far from being spacious for the 130-plus inmates. The division is complete with facilities, from a medical clinic and classroom to a dormitory zoned into different sections and a multipurpose room that turns into a karaoke joint every Sunday. Other female-orientated facilities include a beauty salon, laundry store, massage parlour, restaurant and bakery, all of which are available to inmates. They can learn skills from invited teachers and run the place themselves as part of vocational programmes.
An inmate enjoys the beauty salon.
"Everything about the Bangkok Rules is good," said Dao. "There is no 'but' here. Some inmates who are mothers are allowed to be visited by their children who are under 16 years old. This helps preserve a bond between mother and child. We always have activities that are made for us like this. They are all very good. So I don't know what to ask for more than this. It already covers everything from hygiene to overall well-being."
Bangkok Rules was dreamed up in 2007 following the overwhelming success of the Kamlangjai Project, a scheme administered by Princess Bajrakitiyabha that focused on promoting the lives of women in prison on issues that were not yet covered by the Department of Corrections. The Ministry of Justice, under which the Kamlangjai Project is operated, was inspired to initiate a further project.
Kittipong Kittanakorn, permanent secretary to the Ministry of Justice at the time, believed that it would be a good opportunity for Thailand to step up as a key player in penal reform on the global stage as the population of female inmates has been snowballing globally for the past decade and the country itself boasts one of the highest female inmate populations in the world (71 female inmates per 100,000 of population in 2013, according to statistics). His vision was to carry out a new set of rules that would be a female version of the United Nations' Standard Minimum Rules in 1955 (SMR), which was soft law for prisons around the world to comply with for more than half a century, and the Tokyo Rules, which solely centre around non-custodial measures.
Learning new skills in the bakery.
"The concept about equality of gender back then was not highlighted much given the fact that the population of female prisoners around the world was very small," said Kittipong. "I thought if we kept working, going from our potential standing point we had for the Kamlangjai Project, we would create an exceptional piece of work from our country to the world."
The rules were drafted by specialists and representatives from various regions around the world. The Ministry of Justice also joined hands with Penal Reform International, an independent NGO that develops and promotes fair, effective and proportionate responses to criminal justice problems worldwide.
Once the rules were officially taken up by the UN in 2010, the government gave the greenlight to the establishment of the TIJ, the body committed to instutionalising the Bangkok Rules in 2011, on which Kittipong currently sits as executive chairman.
The Bangkok Rules were implemented in several prisons, such as in the all-female prison in Chiang Mai, the medium-sized female prison inside the male prison in Ayutthaya and the small-size female prison inside the male prison in Uthai Thani. So far, Uthai Thani Provincial Prison's Women Division is the only prison that has been approved as the ideal model of the Bangkok Rules. The country is planning to invite other countries to see it next year.
"We tried to develop it for people to see how Bangkok Rules can translate into an actual prison," Kittipong said. "It doesn't need to be fancy or be the one built from the biggest budget. Each country can also have prisons built from their own definition of the Bangkok Rules. They don't have to to be cut from the same cloth. But we just needed an example to show that with limited space and resources, a prison can be made into the right place."
One group who determine how a particular prison is going to turn out are the staff. Urai Songsiri, who has worked at Uthai Thani's Women Division for 28 years, argued the success of her prison has stemmed from the solidarity between prison staff.
The dormitory is inspected.
"Co-operation between staff has shaped how the place is now," said Urai. "Some other places may even have better facilities. But here the chief is determined to make the prison a better place and that determination is passed down to me and my colleagues.
"So we share that same goal working here. When we do something for them [prisoners], I always think that I'm a woman too. I always think of what kind of rights they have. Once they are here, they need to be made ready to go back to the real world."
Urai also thinks the prison can help create a better image for all prisons in Thailand.
"A prison is not a secretive place or a twilight world like the one existing in people's minds anymore," said Urai. "People think of prisons as a place where brutality runs high, as depicted in movies. Reality and the world of movies are not the same. We are proud that we are working according to set standards. A jail is no longer a scary place."
Asked what else the prison wants to give the inmates but has not been able to do yet, Urai said: "Freedom."
Inmates have a say in controlling visitors.
A crochet class is available.
