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Massage places in Thailand are as ubiquitous as Starbucks in Seattle, so allowing a convicted criminal to pummel my muscles may seem like an odd choice. But the Chiang Mai Women's Correctional Institution gives soon-to-be-released convicts a chance to practice new skills and earn head-start money. Prisoners participate in vocational programs to learn massage, cooking, dressmaking, hairdressing or waitressing. So I hauled my achy body off to find the jail. I expected cinderblocks, barbed wire, guns and guards. What I found was an ungated, pleasantly tiled patio featuring a sprawling mango tree and an atrium restaurant serving espressos and homemade pastries. Once inside, I was led to a dimly lit, air-conditioned room with five mats on the floor. Directed to a storeroom, I changed into lightweight cotton wrap-around top and pants that looked like hospital scrubs. Thai massages are communal experiences where mats or chairs are side-by-side in an open room. People are dressed and the masseurs banter with each other like hairdressers at a neighborhood salon. It's not unusual to see massage mats or chairs publicly lined up at popular outdoor markets to reinvigorate intrepid shoppers. Tik, a 31-year-old convict with eight months to go on her three-year sentence, gestured toward a mat, brought me a cup of Chinese tea and washed my feet in refreshingly tepid water. The room smelled like Chomthong, a mild, soothing herbal balm that would soon be penetrating my back from warm compresses. Tik's touch, surprisingly gentle, took instant charge of my muscles. She used fingers, thumbs, palms, fists, forearms and elbows. No kink was too stubborn for this criminal to break! The room hummed with the cupping sounds of hands on flesh and the quiet banter of the baby blue-clad convicts massaging two older Thai men and 25-year-old Lek, an engineer from Bangkok on a repeat visit. "It massages my heart, too," Lek said. Tik coaxed my joints in directions they hadn't gone in years, distracting me with her cajoling smile and cooing "too hard?" to which I could only grunt. After an hour, my heat-swollen feet and ankles were back to normal and my joints felt like they'd been oiled from the inside out. I followed my massage with a cappuccino and Pad Thai noodles with shrimp in the convict-run cafe. The prisoners serve, cook and clean - everything except deal with money. Cost: One-hour massage 180 baht ($5.80 US). Lunch 75 baht ($2.50). Here's a place where I can afford my convictions!