Boxing out of poverty and prison in Thailand

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1815747_1815707_1815695-2,00.html


Currently Thailand consists of 65 million citizens of which 170,000 are in prisons. Rubbery, vandalism and drug abuse are the most common crimes being committed. Thailand is trying to reduce their crime rate, however, due to great poverty in the country this is very difficult to achieve.
Many prisoners first come to jail when they are 17 years old. Once they are in prison they are not educated in any way. Therefore, when they return into real life it only takes a short period of time until they are back in jail. Thailand has now introduced a new program which should help the prisoners out of jail and poverty. To stop the boredom in the prisons, sport instructors have introduced boxing lessons for all. Samson Thaveesuk is only one of many prisoners who have started boxing during her imprisonment. During this time she has learned how to box and set herself a new goal for her future life. She decided to box professionally and succeeded by winning many tournaments including the world boxing council championship.
With this new method of teaching discipline to the prisoners and giving them a new perspective of life Thailand has succeed reducing their number of prisoners. Prisoner officials state that no prisoner who has attended boxing classes has returned to jail. This program helps Thailand to reduce its poverty rate efficiently.