For many inmates who are about to be released from jail, career training and advice on personal finance are crucial in helping them prepare for reintegration into a society they left long ago.
Financial trainers provide basic education on personal finances to inmates. The training programme 'Smart Saving and Smart Spending' conducted inside Khae Noi Prison is aimed at broadening prisoners' knowledge about saving and investing money to boost their financial safety net. Inmates are also trained to set up small businesses to make a living and reintegrate into society after they are released.
Khae Noi Prison in Phetchabun province is a correctional facility that helps female inmates due for release adapt to their imminent freedom and life back in the real world.
Eighty inmates at the facility have, on average, two years behind bars left to go. The earliest some of them will be released is in three months.
For those who have long been incarcerated under strict prison rules, many of them are apathetic about preparing for their new lives after they are discharged, prison staff say.
With this concern in mind, the Department of Corrections, the Kenan Institute Asia (a Thailand-based NGO for sustainable development in Asia) and the Citi Foundation, jointly held a programme from Tuesday to Thursday last week to educate Khae Noi Prison inmates about personal finances and basic entrepreneurial skills for running a business.
The programme is called "Smart Saving and Smart Spending".
Wichai Limpitikranon, manager of the economic, business and entrepreneurship development programme of the Kenan Institute Asia, says Khae Noi Prison is a suitable facility to prepare inmates who will soon be released.
The inmates feel relaxed in a large space at the facility filled with trees in a natural, soothing environment which helps them de-stress, he says.
The facility offers several training courses for prisoners, ranging from growing a popular strain of rice berry, jasmine rice and chemical-free vegetables to cooking food and Thai desserts, and even courses on massage and car-washing.
Finance training participants are divided into groups and asked to come up with their best financial plans.
Mr Wichai says the programme is aimed at broadening prisoners' knowledge about saving and investing money to augment their financial safety net.
The inmates are trained in groups, each supervised by a trainer. They are then taught ways to analyse problems and find solutions to achieve tasks.
The programme is designed for active learning, where inmates can share opinions and learn both as individuals and in groups.
The course kicked off with ways to set financial goals, he said.
The inmates were then assigned to find ways to reduce unnecessary expenses, do their own accounting and plan out their purchases by sticking to the sufficiency economy principle.
They learn the dangers of predatory lenders and how to avoid them. Also, they are educated on how to avoid falling into debt. They are told what the reasonable interest rate levels are for each type of loan at commercial banks and financial institutions.
In addition, the inmates study plans they can formulate if they wish to start up small-scale businesses and learn the basic marketing strategies as well as pricing for their products.
Perhaps most importantly, they are introduced to the calculation of the break-even point in business through a case study, he says.
According to a survey on the 80 inmates who attended the programme, 76% did not know anything about accounting while 72% said they could not make ends meet each month, and 37% of inmates had no savings at all.
Sunanta Vejchalermjit, manager of the organisational development unit at Citibank, says people basically hope for a bright financial future, but they still do not know how to make it happen.
The inmates are encouraged to have confidence and to realise, with determination and persistent efforts, that they can accomplish their goals and that they can be in total control of their own financial destiny.
At the training sessions, the inmates speak about their individual targets in the presence of fellow trainees. This can psychologically instill a deep confidence in meeting their goals and getting their acts together.
"Everyone has a chance to stumble and fall, but those who stand up and move past the obstacles more quickly reach their targets faster," Ms Sunanta says.
One of the inmates with outstanding analytical skills in spending with a strong go-getter attitude is Fah, a 39-year-old drug convict from Khon Khaen.
The trainers were impressed with her ability to make logical decisions with a sharp analytical mind. Fah is a fast learner who has helped explain the training activities to other inmates.
Fah says she is glad to have taken part in the training which showed society has not neglected prisoners.
According to Fah, the programme is helping her think and prepare for her future.
She has a firm focus on what she wants in life after being released. Her immediate priority is to take care of her mother.
Speaking about her past life before being jailed, Fah said she whiled away her time drinking and being frivolous.
She got involved in the drug trade and made a huge amount of money from it, which she splurged on brand-name goods.
Her gregarious personality drew her to the drug ring. Many people approached her when they wanted to buy drugs from her.
Fah started out as a tout who told people where to buy drugs. After seeing the massive opportunities to make quick cash from the drug trade, she became a drug agent.
She also spent her drug money setting up a coffee shop and a massage parlour in an upscale Sukhumvit area.
Her time in prison has taught her a valuable lesson.
"It has given me time to reflect on what has happened in my life," says Fah, adding that she now wants to turn over a new leaf and find a decent job that earns her enough so she can take care of herself and her 58-year-old mother.
She hopes that with good behaviour, she will qualify for parole.
She says she is ready to embark on a new chapter in her life.
"Carrying out an offence and being punished for the first time is a mistake, but committing the same crime twice suggests a vicious instinct," Fah says.
However, it is also up to the former inmates to prove they can put behind the past behind them and move on.
Fah says she plans invest in the money she put away in savings from making crafts for sale at the prison. She sees herself opening a food stall in her home province of Khon Kaen.
Khae Noi Prison has opened a restaurant, a spa and a car wash shop adjacent to the facility. The businesses employ the inmates with good conduct who work under full supervision of the warden.
Inmates who have passed the training and received a certificate may be hired by the prison-run businesses, which charge cheaper fees for the services than similar shops elsewhere.
A man who gave his name only as Udom said he is a regular customer of the car wash service as the price is much cheaper than elsewhere.
Udom said he has never had his belongings stolen at the prison-run car wash.
An inmate car wash employee named Or said the work gave her the opportunity to interact with ordinary people, and that made her feel less stressed after spending the past three years behind bars.
Or said she felt remorse for her crime. She has lost three precious years behind bars, which she would otherwise have spent taking care of her parents. She says she is now a changed person.
In Khae Noi prison inmates can withdraw up to 300 baht per day from their accounts kept at the prison in the form of coupons to buy items from the prison store.
The inmates are trained to be cautious in spending the coupons.
Decha Jamjan, chief of Phetchabun Provincial Prison which also supervises Khae Noi Prison, said the prisoners participating in the finance training programme are aged from 25 to 35, and most of them are drug convicts.
They are "good-class inmates" with jail terms of less than five years remaining and are eligible for early release.
Supaluck Dechboon, an occupational trainer at the prison, said it is difficult for inmates to find jobs after having served their time since many private businesses prefer not to hire people with "a past".
But with basic skills in business, they can set up their own small stalls to sell goods, giving them financial independence.
Hassaya Hasitabhan, senior vice-president of corporate affairs and head of corporate citizenship of Citibank, said women are the ones who primarily take care of families and personal finances, not only for themselves but also their loved ones.
The programme can be useful for the inmate participants who, after their jail terms are over, can walk away from prison comfortable in the knowledge that they have the financial skills and knowhow to sustain their lives.
More than 80% of the attendants agreed their families would have a better quality of life free of debt, Ms Hassaya added.
An inmate jots down her expenses during personal finance management training. Prisoners who participate in the programme are taught to set financial goals to achieve and plan their spending.
A massage outlet set up in a non-restricted area of the prison is open for customers. The service is provided by trained inmates.
Vegetables grown in the gardens of Khae Noi Prison are eaten at the jail and also sold to shops and well-known stores.