a policy of refusing all advertisements for massage parlours. In 2005, it was reported that, in Manchester, there were around 80 "massage parlours" that were fronts for prostitution, and that the police ignored those establishments, focusing instead on reducing street prostitution. On 12 October 2005, the Manchester Evening News reported that "a self-confessed pimp walked free from court after a judge was told police had 'turned a blind eye' to organised prostitution in massage parlours in Manchester." In December 2007, the Manchester Evening News removed all advertisements for massage parlours from its personal columns following a meeting between ministers and newspaper and advertising industry representatives. It also followed comments by Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality, in the House of Commons on 25 October that some local newspapers were promoting slavery by running sex adverts for foreign women. United States Massage parlors in the United States have been linked to prostitution since the nineteenth century. In 2019 it was reported that the Polaris Project estimated there were around 9,000 massage parlors in the US providing sexual services. Most of the staff are Chinese women. The country's larger cities typically have hundreds, and they are often present in small towns. Between 1980 and 2009, massage parlors in Rhode Island (also known there as "spas") were known to be involved in prostitution. Prostitution in Rhode Island was legal at that time as long as it was "behind closed doors". The 2009 documentary film Happy Endings? follows women who worked in the Asian massage parlors of Rhode Island. It focuses on "full service" massage parlors, although "rub and tug" massage parlors (where only handjobs are offered) are also covered. As of 2010, there were an estimated 525 massage parlors in New Jersey acting as fronts for the prostitution industry. An ongoing study of prostitution in New York City by the Sociology Department of Columbia University found that, between 1991 and 2010, the rise of the Internet and mobile phones "have enabled some sex workers to professionalize their trade", with a shift from street walking to "indoor" markets (including massage parlors and escort agencies), a geographical change in the concentration of sex work and the growth of a more expensive luxury market. In January 2011, an investigation by Time Out New York found New York City massage parlors charging a "house fee" (which is usually paid, up front to the parlor's mama-san) of