PRISON FIGHT

hen you first hear the phrase “prison fight,” Hollywood films come to mind. And to some degree, you are not wrong.

This really is a case of “action” in “Amazing Thailand.”

“Prison Fight” is an organized series of Muay Thai boxing matches in which Thai inmates go up against experienced foreign boxers.

Under the scheme started last year by Thailand’s Department of Corrections, winning prisoners earn respect, better conditions and the chance to have their sentences reduced.

The foreign boxers fight for personal ambition and a small purse.

Thais say that the tradition of pardoning prisoner boxers dates back to an old legend from around 1774, when Thai boxer Nai Khanom Tom was imprisoned in Myanmar.

In that year, King Hsinbyushin (known in Thailand as King Mangra) had organized a seven-

Wday religious festival in Yangon. During the event he wanted to see how Muay Boran (the old name for Muay Thai) compared to the Myanmar boxing style, Lethwei.

According to the story, prisoner Nai Khanom Tom routed a series of Myanmar opponents. The king’s reward was to give him his freedom, and today Nai Khanom Tom is celebrated as the “father” of Muay Thai.

That old legend seemed a long way away earlier this year, when I gained access to the gritty daily realities of Section 5 in the notorious Klong Prem prison outside Bangkok.

I was told that I was the first person in thirty years to be allowed into the section with a camera. Given that the maximum security jail holds more than 5,000 inmates, I was expecting to find wardens turning a blind eye to knife fights in the yard, the odd riot and worse. In fact, I found a mix of the mundane and orderly, and the surreal.

I met the Iranian bomber who managed to blow his own legs off in downtown Bangkok in 2012. When a taxi driver refused to pick the man up on Sukhumvit 71, he threw his backpack, which was full of explosives, at the car. The bag bounced off the taxi, landed at the bomber’s feet, and you can guess the rest.

I spent around 11 hours with convicted murderers, hit men, drug dealers and drug users who had sentences ranging from 20 to 80 years.

Most of the men were covered with amazing tattoos. They create these at night when locked in their cells, using ballpoint pens, ink and a pin.

Each cell holds between three and four prisoners. There are no chairs or beds. The inmates sleep side by side, on the floor, in cells measuring approximately 1.5 meters by 3.5 meters. This includes a small and very basic bathroom area at the back. They spend 13 hours a day in this claustrophobic and confined space.

Boxing training gives purpose to prisoners’ lives. While inside Section 5, I documented the lives of prisoners who train for six hours a day, seven days a week.

For good fighters, the rewards are compelling.

Immediate benefits can include better food, a TV in their cell, and the respect of others.

Eventually, like Nai Khanom Tom under King Hsinbyushin, they may even win their freedom. 