Tourism with a twist: Taste a prison for a price
Jail Tourism – an out of the box experience
You need not break a law and get caught by police to taste a life of a prisoner for a day in this prison in India. Instead you can experience behind-the-bars experience for a paltry sum of Rs 500, which equates to roughly 7 Euros.
This offer comes from a colonial-era jail here in Medak district of Telangana, a southern state in India. Tourists can now get a firsthand experience of prison life, albeit for a day.
The 220-year-old District Central Jail at Sangareddy, which has now been converted into a museum, offers a 24-hour confinement under an innovative initiative called ‘Feel the Jail’ launched by the Prisons department for people with a taste for the offbeat and want to experience detention.
During the stay, ‘inmates’ will be provided with a prison uniform, made of khadi, a steel meal plate and a glass, a mug, a bathing soap, bedding and other facilities as per state prison manual, besides a fan.
A prior intimation would be needed to avail this offer so that jail authorities can make necessary arrangements for the visiting inmates.
What’s the offer?
The ‘prisoners’ will be provided all the meals along with tea and refreshments as per the jail menu. The meals include chapati, rice, rasam, pigeon pea, red gram dal, curry and curd. There is no work schedule for the inmates. But they have to clean their barracks and are free to plant saplings during their stay.
The District Central jail was constructed in 1796 during the Nizam rule in the princely state of Hyderabad. The heritage jail is spread over three acres of land, of which the building occupies more than one acre. There are nine barracks in the male wing and one in the female wing.
After using this ancient facility for over 216 years, a new jail was constructed near here and the inmates were shifted to the premises in 2012.
The old jail was later converted into a museum and thrown open to public in June this year. It is strewn with history of prominent persons who were lodged here and exhibits several antiques, artefacts and equipments showing the history of jails during Nizam rule.
The Prisons department is planning to include the jail museum visit in the Telangana state tourism department’s itinerary. Laxmi Narasimha, Deputy Superintendent of the jail says no tourist has so far availed this offer though a few locals visit the museum daily.
Do you want to give a try?
