The simmering sun slides across the city sky. Afternoon lazily turns into early evening. The air cools as shadows lengthen. Along Maha Chai Road, Rommaneenak Park comes to life as men and women of all ages are drawn like iron filings to this 10 acre magnet of vegetation, besieged by buildings on all sides, to gather and join in a communal jog around its perimeter or work out on the weights in the open air gym.

Some exercise while others doze on mats under shady trees. Friends commandeer benches, exchange gossip or catch upon the latest news. Others watch the world jog by. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly giving this pleasant park a feeling of being well used and appreciated, a welcome splash of nature, somewhere to escape to, but as recently as 1990 ideas of escape were in the opposite direction. This was a place to avoid. The watchtowers around the perimeter provide a clue to the park’s darker past.

When King Rama I (reigned 1782 to 1809) moved the Siamese capital across the Chao Phraya River to Bangkok the city covered a tiny portion of the present metropolis and the population was a fraction of today’s teeming millions. Like all cities it had its miscreants who needed to be securely housed. The first jail was built near the eastern wall of Wat Po and was a relatively simple affair consisting of barracks for the inmates surrounded by a stockade. As the city grew and became more urbanized a new prison was built on a site further north where the Ministry of Justice now stands.

At first prison guards were not paid. To survive the guards used the convicts as labour hiring them out to work in the busy river port and nearby Chinatown. Shackled with leg irons and heavy chains the prisoners were sent to toil in the godowns and timber mills. The practice continued until prison reforms were introduced by King Rama V in 1892 when the guards became government employees on a regular salary. The king sent a delegation to Singapore in 1893 to study the prison system set up by the British and upon reviewing their findings he ordered the construction of the Bangkok Central Prison next to the Ong Ang canal which formed part of the boundary to the old settlement.

Once a city landmark with its colonial style architecture, it remained in service until 1990’s when the government approved the transfer of inmates to a modern facility and much of the old complex was demolished to make way for the park. All that remains today are the front administrative buildings, the women’s cell block, main gate with part of the front wall and nine watchtowers around the park’s perimeter.

Handicrafts made by serving inmates are displayed in one administrative building along with photos and literature describing various rehabilitation schemes. In the adjacent building and the women’s block the Correction Museum exhibits a comprehensive if somewhat gruesome collection of prison memorabilia. Displays of artifacts and information cover a period from the Ayutthaya era (1569 to 1767) to the present day and are not for those of a sensitive disposition.

The original corrections museum was established in 1939 in Bang Kwang Prison as an aid to train new corrections officers but moved its current location when the old jail was demolished. The upper floor of the administrative building is devoted to the three principle methods of execution used from ancient times to the present day. Common criminals were beheaded in an execution requiring elaborate ritual involving a two or three swordsmen. After 1934 the condemned were tied to a post and shot at close range through a target pinned to a cloth screen. Recently this method was replaced by lethal injection. Life size mannequin displays with aging black and white photos, swords and racks of old firearms fill the three upper rooms. Exhibits of ancient torture methods, shackles, uniforms and confiscated items can be seen in the women’s block with its original Victorian cell doors, locking mechanism and wrought iron stirs imported from London. Outside, rows of well spaced bricks top the perimeter wall and were originally laid loose with no mortar so any prisoners trying to scale the wall would invariably bring a shower of rubble down upon themselves.  

The museum is open week days only from 9.30am to 4.30pm. Currently admission is free but a donation is appreciated. The staff are very friendly and will show you around though their English is rather limited.

Despite its grisly displays this small museum is well worth a visit and makes an interesting departure from the usual destinations, but if menacing mannequins and manacles are not to your liking, take a stroll through the pleasantly manicured gardens and enjoy this park within the prison in the heart of Bangkok.

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