by Scott Coates

Thai massage is one of life’s great treats. Generally 1-2 hours in length, you’re poked, prodded, rubbed, bent and sometimes pushed to your limits, but for fans, there’s nothing like it. I’m a fan.

I’d heard of a massage service at the Chiang Mai Women’s Prison for quite some time but had never been. A March 2010 trip to Chiang Mai found me with a couple hours free and feeling a bit sore after six days of biking on the Thailand Trek & Trail – the perfect time to give it a shot.

Opting to walk there through Chiang Mai’s charming old walled city instead of taking a tuk tuk, I passed numerous ancient temples, shop stalls and had only a sense of where the massage was. Turned out I committed the age old man’s fault of not asking for directions first and walked much further than needed, but saw some neat sides to the city that had previously eluded me. My legs were now truly in need of a good rubdown.

Located across the street from the Chiang Mai Woman’s Correctional Institution in the center of town, the massage service is one part of their Skill Development Center. Started in 2001 by the institution’s director as a means for residents to gain life experience to ease the transition back into society after release, roughly 420 inmates have gone through Thai massage training and are now working as masseuses around the kingdom.

The massage center is not entirely easy to find and set among a group of buildings that are part of the Skill Development Center. There are a few small signs in English and I wasn’t sure until someone said, “massage?”, if I was in the correct place. Opting for a 1-hour Thai massage I was surprised by the very friendly smiles and demeanor of a few women who welcomed and handed me some massage clothing to put on. Surely these weren’t the criminal masseuses? In my new outfit I went into the room with mattresses on the floor and sure enough these pleasant looking women were the masseuses!

Bom was my masseuse and did an excellent job. I’ve had hundreds of massages over the years and her service was quality. While receiving my treatment I gently inquired into the program and her life. Turns out she’s 28-years-old, is serving just under three years for selling Ya Ba (methamphetamines) and very much enjoys her time practicing rather than being in a cell.

Thirty of the prison’s roughly 1,400 inmates study 180 hours of Thai massage training at one time within prison walls before being allowed to serve customers. Only non-violent and low-risk offenders are admitted to the program and the real bonus is the one month students get to spend giving massages outside of the prison at the center. Eight prisoners practice at a time then head back inside after their stint is up. They then wait in a queue to practice again.

Money from massage services goes to support the training initiatives of the center and the masseuses get a bonus the month they work outside prison walls (this amount could not be verified).

While a great experience and neat way to relax while giving inmates a sense of worth, the downside is the total lack of information about the program at the center itself. There is absolutely no information, leaving guests with no sense of what they are partaking in.

A nearby business worth visiting is Lila Thai Massage, whose employees are all ex-inmates who have successfully completed the program and served there time.

The massage center is open from 08:00-16:30, can be found at 100 Rachwithee Rd, in the city center (081-706-1041. Thai massage is 180B/hr and Foot massage is 150B/hr.

Enjoy your experience!