Prison hotels are former jails or prisons that have been renovated into hotels, offering a unique and often themed experience for guests. These hotels can be found worldwide, with some maintaining original features such as cell doors and walkways. Some hotels offer a realistic prison experience, while others provide more comfortable accommodations. Examples include the Liberty Hotel in Boston, the Langholmen prison hotel in Sweden, and the Karosta Prison in Latvia.
A prison hotel is a hotel whose building once housed an actual jail or prison. The attraction for hotel guests is the possibility of staying in a unique location. A prison hotel has usually been renovated with many modern amenities in comfortable rooms. These prison-themed hotels can be found all over the world, from the United States to Great Britain, Australia, Latvia and Sweden.
Some hotels not only offer rooms in former prisons but extend the distinguished atmosphere to other parts of their establishments. The Liberty Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, for example, which was once the Charles Street Jail, has called its restaurant Clink and its staff are dressed in mock prison uniforms. The quaint atmosphere in a prison hotel can in many cases be attributed to architects who have taken care to maintain the original features during the renovation. At the Liberty Hotel, rows of walkways that once allowed guards to survey prisoners are now being used as balconies. In keeping with the theme, the architects even kept the outlines of the holes in the walls that once anchored the prison bars. In Sweden, the original cell doors remain in the Langholmen prison hotel.
In Latvia’s Karosta Prison, comfort is the last thing on innkeepers’ minds. This prison hotel aims to give guests an approximation of what it really feels like to be held in custody, offering real prison mattresses and benches. The Karosta, built in 1905, was once used by the KGB, Russia’s intelligence agency, to house Russian sailors who had clashed with the authorities. In Australia, guests of the former Mount Gambier prison also stay in cells that have few updates.
There are also hotels that offer their guests a choice between comfort and realism. In New Zealand, for example, the Napier Prison Hotel offers accommodation in a dormitory, a refurbished cell or a cell that remains in its original state without any additional comforts. A prison hotel in Germany, the Alcatraz, offers a minimum of comfort in cells, with toilets that are located inside the cell, just as prisoners have experienced them.
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