This was published 7 years ago
Sangareddy District Jail, India: The prison tourists pay to enter and spend the night
Spending time in jail has become a tourist attraction (representative image).Credit: iStock
A 200-year-old former jail in southern India offers tourists the chance to live a day in the life of a prisoner.
Visitors to the colonial-era Sangareddy District Jail in the state of Telangana receive a prison uniform, basic bedding, soap and eating utensils before being taken to their cell for an overnight stay that costs Rs.500 ($A9.90).
Besides promoting tourism, spending a night in jail could educate people on how tough life is behind bars, said Vinoy Kumar Singh, the state's director-general of prisons.
"We wanted to get a message across to the people, that they should avoid crime at any cost," Singh said.
Intended as a cavalry barracks after being built in 1796, the buildings were later converted into a prison. That was closed in 2012, and is now a museum displaying paintings and other artifacts related to crime and prison life in India. (Reporting by Reuters TV Writing by Karishma Singh)
Reuters
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