Spotlight

Prison issues

By Suwitcha Chaiyong, Photos courtesy of Chutima Chatiyo/Bangkok Post

Students reach behind bars

Being stuck in a roomful of criminals would make just about anybody anxious. But two students from Nakhon Si Thammarat Rajabhat University � Chutima Chatiyo (Chu), 22, and Satron Mahasawat (Bird), 22 � were behind bars on a mission. They were in Pak Phanang Prison to educate 30 male prisoners about AIDS.

�I�d only ever taught students before, so I was pretty excited,� Bird said. �But I was a bit worried that the prisoners wouldn�t listen or co-operate with us.�

Apart from teaching prisoners, visiting a jail was itself a whole new experience for the Chu and Bird.

�I�d never been to a prison before, so it was a very interesting experience,� Chu said.

BEHIND BARS

• Did you know •

World AIDS Day was started on December 1, 1988.

Chu and Bird were working as teacher trainees at Satree Pakpanang School when the offer came up to give the prison seminar.

�We taught sex education to high school students once a week,� Bird said. �When the prison asked for teachers to lecture prisoners about AIDS, we were sent to do the job.�

The prisoners who attended the session all had past convictions relating to sexual assault. They were there to be informed about various issues, including AIDS, as part of the preparation for their release in a few months time.

FUN SESSION

In a three-hour seminar, Chu and Bird provided useful information about AIDS and condoms to the felons. In an effort to make a fun session out of a serious topic, they started the lecture by getting rid of the chairs.

�The prisoners looked tense and uncomfortable on their seats, so we asked them to move their chairs outside,� Chu said. �Then we played some music and let them sing and dance for a while. It was fun.�

NEW KNOWLEDGE

The teachers soon found that most of the attendants were lacking in formal sex education.

�Some of them told us that they never learned about AIDS or had any sex education when they were in school,� Chu said.

The participants learned a lot of new things during the session, and they were also able to dispel a few misconception.

�A lot of them thought that you could become infected with HIV from a mosquito bite or by sharing a glass of water, which is wrong,� Chu said. �Also, they incorrectly thought that using two condoms at once was a good idea.�

Using two condoms at the same time actually causes them to rub together and break. It became clear during the session that many of the participants didn�t know how to use a condom properly.

�We used plastic models to let the prisoners demonstrate how to wear a condom and how to take it off,� Bird said. �Some of them didn�t take the condom off properly � they just tore it when they were finished!�

HAPPY LESSON

The long session was a success, and the participants told the students that they enjoyed it.

�They told us that our lecture was fun, and they asked lots of questions to increase their understanding of AIDS,� Chu said. �Some said that they�d love to attend another session, but I told them that I�d like to see them out of prison.�

Chu and Bird enjoyed the experience as well. They said that they would also like the opportunity to educate female prisoners.

�I saw female prisoners who�d become pregnant when they were younger than me,� Chu said. �It would be great to teach them about AIDS and sex education.�

 

	anxious (adj): feeling worried or nervous co-operate (v): to work together with somebody else in order to achieve something trainee (n): a person who is being taught how to do a particular job seminar (n): a meeting for discussion or training conviction (n): the fact of having been found guilty of a crime assault (n): the crime of attacking somebody physically felon (n): a person who has committed a serious crime session (n): a period of time that is spent doing a particular activity tense (adj): unable to relax participant (n): a person who is taking part in an activity or event misconception (n): a belief or an idea that is not based on correct information demonstrate (v): to show and explain how something works or how to do something