After serving two years for violating Thailand's royal defamation law, the former political prisoner is now on the other side of the prison gate. "Getting cosmetics was very difficult and expensive," she told AFP, explaining that some inmates would buy out all the beauty products from a small prison store and then jack up the price for other buyers. "This money doesn't go to the prisons but goes to the pockets of the influential inmates," said Prontip, whose chipper attitude cracks when she starts recalling her own time behind bars. Thailand's prison problemThailand's exploding prison population stems from the kingdom's harsh anti-drug laws, where the possession of just a few methamphetamine pills is enough to land offenders a decade in jail. "Beauty can help," said Watinee Chaithirasakul, a fashion blogger who helped collect cosmetics for Prontip's project.

Source: The Nation Bangkok August 03, 2017 03:33 UTC