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Published on : Monday, August 31, 2020
Thailand is all geared up to turn more than half of its prison cells into tourist attractions. They hope that this concept will boost up the visitor numbers as the Southeast Asian countries are fighting hard to bounce back from the major financial fall triggered by the pandemic.
The jail inmates will take part in various sporting events, art exhibitions, cooking contests and souvenirs. It will be rolled out in about 72 of Thailand’s 143 prisons. This week, Justice Minister, Somsak Thepsuthin highlighted this plan. In five Thai prisons, currently a pilot scheme is being tested, including those in the cities like Trat, Rayong and Ratchaburi, he mentioned.
This new initiative is expected not only attract much-needed visitors, but also organize the jail inmates for a “normal life in society” and alter long established jail image of prisons from being “a twilight world to a world of opportunities”, he further added.
This novel idea of prison tourism is not new for sure. From the tours of Alcatraz in San Francisco to Hanoi’s infamous Hoa Lo prison that have now being transformed into a museum, universally, prisons are major attractions.
We also know that defunct prisons have even been successfully converted into luxury hotels, while Colombia’s women’s jail at present has a restaurant, absolutely managed by the inmates, and a Singapore prison organizes an annual charitable run.
However, attracting tourists without addressing the basic concerns about the prison system of Thailand, including congestion and the large number of women inmates, is “not acceptable”, said Debbie Stothard, founder of Altsean, a human rights network.
“It’s a good idea if it’s meant to give prisoners more skills and help them integrate into society,” said Stothard. “But it has to be part of a broader rights-based approach to reform the system,” she informed the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Thursday.
In Southeast Asia, Thailand has largest number of prison population, and inmates have limited access in terms of medical facilities, food, water and sanitation, as per a report published in 2017 by the International Federation for Human Rights.
A law of 2017 was targeted in making prison conditions better, and Thailand’s Justice Ministry has promised to ease overcrowding, along with providing vocational training for prisoners. Somsak said that the tourism project is a part of this plan.
Tourism-dependent economy of this nation has impacted majorly from the coronavirus, with only about 8 million visitors are anticipated in 2020, a fifth of last year’s total.
Tags: Thailand, turn jails