One day behind bars: Students and incarcerated women break prison stigma in Thailand

“Your mind follows the thread, one by one, row by row. You know? It’s like meditation. I don’t like machines.”Weo, a prisoner at the Central Women’s Correctional Institution in Bangkok, prefers to sew by hand. She tried the sewing machine, but noticed that her mind was calmer when threading with her fingers directly. By not using a machine, she can produce a unique pattern that is hard to find in conventional shops.She is explaining this to a group of design students who, sketchbooks in hand, are walking through the rows, observing the women who sew. As time passes, some lose their initial apprehension and sit across from them, picking up fabric samples. Others ask about the products they are making. Some borrow their needles and, with the women’s guidance, try a bit of sewing themselves. A few sit on the floor in the basket-weaving corner with the women who have, by now, mastered the skill.Today, the students have left the classroom behind to spend their morning at Thailand’s first women’s prison, where approximately 150 women learn weaving, knitting and machine sewing to make marketable products. The students’ task is to design a product that these women can manufacture during th...