Behind the rather respectable name lies a museum of prison life, torture, and capital punishment. Thrill-seekers should include this museum in their itinerary, as Thai prisons have a very bad reputation among penitentiary institutions around the world.
It is enough to recall the horrors of imprisonment endured by Nicole Kidman's heroine in the film "Bangkok Hilton" to imagine the exhibits of this unusual museum. Incidentally, it was in the prison of the same name that the first Corrections Museum was founded in 1939.
In 1987, it was decided to move it to its current location – the building of Bangkok's maximum-security prison. Of the old building, built in 1890, one wing, part of the prison wall, and a watchtower were preserved, while the rest of the grounds were turned into the pleasant Rommaninat Park.
Inside the wing, the setting of the prison cells has been preserved, along with an exhibition of photographs showing prisoners' everyday life. As you go deeper into the building, you will find cells where the use of various instruments of torture has been reenacted. In addition to various stocks and racks that fix the human body in unimaginable positions, you can see here a device used for one of the most terrible Thai tortures. A person was placed inside a ball lined on the inside with long spikes, and then the ball was given to an elephant, which played with it like a toy, kicking and tossing it.
The next exhibit tells the story of capital punishment in Thailand – from beheading with a sword and various forms of execution by shooting to the most humane way of taking a human life – lethal injection. All scenes of prison life are staged with characters - their roles are played here by very realistic wax figures.
