SIRIMONGKOL SINGWAGCHA, TRAINER (Translation): Just keep punching!
In a small gym outside Bangkok, a new generation of fighters are being inducted into the ritual art of Muay Thai - A powerful mix of elbows, knees and feet and fists.
SIRIMONGKOL SINGWAGCHA (Translation): Muay Thai is special because it has more techniques. It’s more dangerous. It’s more frightening.
Throughout Thailand, young children are sent to live in boxing camps like this one, training for up to eight hours a day in the hopes of one day achieving wealth and fame.
SIRIMONGKOL SINGWAGCHA (Translation): When I teach these kids and see they can make a living, I feel great. They grow up to be good and can support themselves.
With its philosophy of a healthy mind, body and spirit, many here consider Muay Thai as a way of life that instills discipline and respect. Now, this ancient combat sport is making a debut in an unlikely quarter. The Thai prison system, where inmates have been given the chance to fight for their freedom. It's called Prison Fight, a unique program that uses Muay Thai to rehabilitate inmates, getting them out of jail and back into society. If a prisoner can win fights, their sentence can be substantially reduced.
Thailand's prison system is heaving with 60,000 prisoners being added in the past decade, almost a quarter of a million people are now under lock and key. And I've been granted access to one of its toughest jails.
GUARD (Translation): Some of you can’t do it. Someone will miss their meal. Hit your hand on your hip. Bang! Understood?
At Khlong Pai, two hours north of Bangkok, a new group of prisoners has just arrived.
GUARD (Translation): If you can’t follow this, there will be no meal today.
It's the Thai Government's zero-tolerance policy on drugs that's causing a surge in the prison population.
GUARD (Translation): Why are we training you? So you will learn about discipline, self-discipline, when you return to live in society the first thing you need is to have discipline.
Drilling prisoners isn't unusual but Chief Warden Choosak Wannupatham, explains that this is no ordinary prison.
CHOOSAK WANNUPATHAM, CHIEF WARDEN (Translation): We have a vocational course for barbers, so that our prisoners can learn. We’re trying to help prisoners, changing their crisis into an opportunity. Let’s go and see our boxers. Boxing is also one of our vocational courses. It’s offered to every prisoner, those who are willing to. These three are Muay Thai boxers. They are champions, all three of them. Muay Thai champions.
Every few months a tournament is held right here in the middle of the prison and with only a few days to go till the next one, preparations are well under way.
CHOOSAK WANNUPATHAM (Translation): Take your shirts off! Good morning.
NANTHAWAT (Translation): Inside here, without boxing, I’d be like other prisoners. The wait for parole would be longer. With boxing, I can go home sooner.
Nanthawat is in prison for murder. A skilled boxer, he's hoping that his talents in the ring will help get his sentence reduced.
NANTHAWAT (Translation): I shouldn’t have done it, and ended up in here. I miss my family, my home. I’m hoping that with boxing my sentence will be cut in half. Of 11 years, hopefully I’ll do only five, then go home.
Nanthawat is not alone. He's one of a number of prisoners hoping to be fast-tracked to freedom. For Aran and Thunya, the prison fights are a godsend. A welcome distraction from the brutal reality of life behind bars.
ARAN (Translation): The first day in prison I was scared. I was scared of everything. I didn’t know anyone.
THUNYA (Translation): Same with me, the first day I was frightened and scared. My girlfriend left me. Being in prison I try not to worry too much. Just focus on how to make sure my family isn’t in trouble and to survive in here.
These boxers are just days away from their next bout and a shot at freedom, but they don't compete against each other. Instead, inmates are pitted against foreign boxers, matched loosely by weight and height.
CHOOSAK WANNUPATHAM (Translation): This boxer will fight boxers from... France, Germany, Russia...
Winning a fight doesn't guarantee an early release. Good behaviour is also factored in. Nine times out of 10 the inmates win, something Thunya, one of the prison's strongest boxers, regards as a birthright.
THUNYA (Translation): We Thais learn MuayThai. We’re doing better than foreigners. We’re here, Muay Thai is here. That’s why we’re better.
With less than 48 hours to go the foreign prison fight contenders getting in some last-minute practice at their gym in Bangkok. Prison Fight offers foreign fighters the ultimate opportunity to test their skills and Zack from Canada and John from America are determined to spoil the inmates' dreams of an early release.
REPORTER: What do you think about the whole concept of getting out of prison early by fighting?
ZACK: It all depends on what you did to get in the prison. Obviously if he’s a murderer, serial killer, rapist, I’m going to hope to knock him out right off the bat. But I mean, if it’s something, a small crime I’m totally cool with that.
JOHN: To me, it’s, you’re going back to jail either way because I’m winning this fight. It’s all for me, it’s my career, I’m not taking a loss, I trained hard for this, so no matter what you did, I’m sorry man, but you’re staying where you’re staying.
NARUN SIRI, FOUNDER (Translation): Jab. Jab first. Good! Elbow strike!
Former Muay Thai champion Narun Siri is the brains behind Prison Fight.
NARUN SIRI (Translation): That was in the past… That’s me in that picture. I was training to compete in a championship. That was 42 years ago.
Motivated by wanting to give prisoners a second chance, he started the program last year with the blessing of Thailand's Department of Corrections.
NARUN SIRI (Translation): It’s like I’m helping society. Some of the prisoners have been there for a long time. They want to go home.
And it's a program that's already changing lives. Back at the kids' boxing camp, one of Prison Fight's biggest success stories is passing on his skills. A former Muay Thai world champion, five years ago Sirimongkol Singwagcha had a massive fall from grace when he was arrested in a drug raid.
SIRIMONGKOL SINGWAGCHA (Translation): I was charged with a drugs offence. I was with my friends and I delivered drugs for them. We were charged as a group, and I was part of it.
With a 20-year sentence, Sirimongkol was facing a bleak future. But his boxing prowess earned him respect and good behaviour an eventual ticket to freedom.
SIRIMONGKOL SINGWAGCHA (Translation): I boxed in the name of the prison and the department saw me and I was given parole sooner.
Stronger. Hit it straight. Look. Hit it straight like this. Push your arms like this. Do it with strength.
While his professional days are over, he is passionate about teaching kids. An opportunity he wouldn't have had if it wasn't for the Prison Fight program. It's the day of the big fight. At Khlong Pai, the competitors are introduced to an eager press pack.
OFFICER (Translation): In this competition we’re going to have eight pairs.
There are the compulsory poses for the cameras and the excitement is clearly growing. First up, Zack from Canada. One of the things that makes Muay Thai unique is every fight starts with a personalised dance. It's called Wai Khru Ram Muay, an elaborate ritual in which fighters pay respect to their trainers and ask Buddha for protection for both themselves and their opponent.
COMMENTATOR (Translation): I wish you victory.
Another distinctive feature of Muay Thai fights is the live music and the tempo increasing to match the intensity of the fight.
COMMENTATOR (Translation): He’s done a left kick into his opponent’s ribs. Elbow! Then left knee.
Soon, it was all over, the Thai inmate prevailing over his Canadian opponent.
ZACK: Fucking pathetic. I could have fought way better, first fight in a prison and the nerves got me, because it was the first fight. I'm a foreigner as well. I feel I could have done so much better. Next time when I come back.
Next up it was time for John the American to make good on his promise to thrash his prison rival. But with his Thai opponent fighting for his freedom, the American was struggling. At last, it's Thunya's turn.
COMMENTATOR (Translation): As an honour for both boxers, I would like to invite our promoter, Mr Narun Siri to present garlands to our boxers.
As the reigning champion, Thunya's fight is what all the am mates have been waiting for, as he faces his formidable opponent, top German fighter, Eric Massion.
COMMENTATOR (Translation): Thanya says “keep punching me, no problem.” Right kick from Thanya!
Thunya soon delivers a blow that neither the German boxer nor I will forget.
COMMENTATOR (Translation): They’re still wavering in the middle of the ring, in a clinch in the red corner, right punch, right elbow, they both fall Thanya is underneath. The German steps back… Thanya hits his face… the German lands a left to the face…end of the first round.
With each strike that Thunya connects, the prospects of an early release and a return to his family grow stronger.
THUNYA (Translation): Right now, I haven’t reached half of my sentence. Maybe when I’ve been here 4 to 5 years, I can go home because I have brought fame to the prison.
After nine brutal minutes, Thunya is declared the winner.
ERIC MASSION, GERMAN FIGHTER: Honestly I underestimated my opponent, and so it was a mistake, a big mistake.
REPORTER: When you say underestimate, what do you mean?
ERIC MASSION: Because I thought he was totally out of shape, and I saw him smoking and so I thought he didn’t care about the win.
THUNYA (Translation): I was scared because he was bigger than me. But after the first round I wasn’t scared any more. I just wanted to win by knock-out. He hit me on the face, so I teased him to do more. I knew that if I could remain through three rounds, I’d win.
Not everyone will approve of this early shot at freedom. They are convicted criminals after all, but for the inmates that devote their bodies and minds to this sacred art. It's a path to salvation.
Reporter
Nick Lazaredes
Producer
Donald Cameron
Fixers
Supreeya Rungnobhakhun
Ake Sakunkoo
Translations/Subtitling
Kanyarat Rittidech
Editors
David Potts
Wayne Love