Disclaimer: This article is based on actual news from the real world – honestly! However, it has been sprinkled with a healthy dose of satire.
It’s been said time and again that crime doesn’t pay. In fact, you can read tons of stories right here on this site that back that up. How much would you pay, though, to be treated like a criminal, but without that pesky criminal record? If you’ve got an itch to hang out in a cell for 24 hours, Hyderabad, a city in the Indian state of Telangana, has got you covered, and you can lock it in and get locked up for only a little over the equivalent of $20.
As far as experiential experiences go, being escorted to a jail cell at Chanchalguda Central Jail, where you’re incarcerated for either 12 or 24 hours, seems like, well, not that fun at all, actually. But what if you were also fed prison food, had regulated routines, and your movement was restricted the whole time – would that sweeten the deal? No? Maybe you’re just not cut out for the program, which is called “Feel the Jail.” The initiative was launched alongside the Chanchalguda Prison Museum, the fifth such jail museum in the country.
When your friend took you out to "hit the bars," these weren't the ones you had in mind. (etnow/facebook)
Education is at the heart of “Feel the Jail.” The experience was designed with kids in mind, teaching them that if they commit crimes, they’ll get fed and clothed by the state! Or more accurately, that maybe if they don’t commit crimes, they won’t get locked up for real. Basically, it’s like a “scared straight” situation without criminals yelling at them about how fun crime was until they got caught.
It’s also a bit of PR for the jails themselves. The current cells that you can pay ₹2,000 (about $20.91) a night to stay in (or half of that for 12 hours) are sparse, with just a bed and a small washroom, or as they call it in NYC, “a $4000/month studio.” But visitors to the museum will find a history of jails in the country, where prisoners were shackled and physically and psychologically tortured. So it’s a bit of a lesson about how far jails have come and how prison reform works. Years ago, when you were locked up, you were also beaten up. These days, the most uncomfortable feeling prisoners in Indian jails have is FOMO. Or perhaps rage at knowing just a few cells away, someone’s paying to pretend to be incarcerated.
One benefit of “Feel The Jail” beyond learning stuff is that if you’re trying to act tough and anyone asks you if you’ve been locked up before, you can tell them you have. You probably won’t want to mention that you paid for the privilege. Or perhaps if you actually are an aspiring criminal, maybe you can go scope out the place and pick up some tips on how to escape. It probably will be a little harder than saying “hey, my 24 hours are up,” however.
