Channel Your Favourite ‘Orange is the New Black’ Inmate by Checking Yourself into These Prison-Turned-Hotels
Mark your calendars, the highly anticipated fifth season of ‘Orange is the New Black’ will finally be released on June 9th. To help channel your favourite ‘Orange is the New Black’ inmate (minus the whole committing crime thing), Booking.com has found the best former prisons that have been turned into intriguing hotels. Luckily, you don’t have be a convict to stay the night and these doors lock from the inside only!
The Liberty Hotel – Boston, USA
What’s known today as the lavish Liberty Hotel was originally built in 1851 as the seedy Charles Street Jail. While operating as a prison, it held several notorious inmates including James Michael Curley, Malcom X, Sacco and Vanzetti. Today, the Liberty Hotel elegantly combines historic style and architecture with today's modern conveniences, including Wi-Fi access and state-of-the-art fitness facilities, while featuring playful nods to its infamous past.
Jailhouse Accommodation – Christchurch, New Zealand
Set in a refurbished 1874 building and formerly known as Addington Prison, this property offers Gothic-style architecture and a historical display room. It sits just a five minute walk from both of Christchurch’s main arenas and close to the pretty parks and rivers the city is known for. With modern facilities, this is the perfect way to experience the history of a prison with the comfort of a hotel.
Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet – Istanbul, Turkey
Situated in a three-storey, neoclassical prison building with a landscaped courtyard – this is one prison no one will be trying to escape from! Four Seasons Sultanahmet is a beautiful hotel in the centre of Istanbul’s Old Town. Beginning its life as the Sultanahmet Prison, the building housed male, female and youth prisoners as well as the occasional artist and politician. Today, it offers luxury accommodation with original works by Turkish artisans such as handwoven Turkish rugs and marble bathrooms. If you feel like escaping ‘prison life’ for the day, the 15th Century Topkapi Palace and the 17th Century Blue Mosque are just a five-minute walk away.
Het Arresthuis - Roermond, the Netherlands
Het Arresthuis, which is Dutch for ‘house arrest’, is a former prison and detention centre dating back to 1863. Located in the historic centre of Roermond, it has been completely transformed to offer guests luxurious rooms – a far cry from the bare necessities offered at Orange is the New Black’s Litchfield Penitentiary.
ALCATRAZ Hotel am Japanischen Garten – Kaiserslautern, Germany
For a more authentic prison experience, check yourself into the Alcatraz Hotel am Japanischen Garten, Germany’s first prison-hotel. Dating back to 1867 and located near the beautiful Japanese Garden in the centre of Kaiserslautern, this prison-turned-hotel offers both cell-style and conventional rooms. In the cell-style rooms, guests get a small taste of prison life via barred windows, original prison beds (made by former inmates) and even an in-room washbasin and toilet. The hotel’s Hinter Gittern Bar, German for ‘behind bars’, is ideal to relax with a few drinks before escaping to your quiet cell or room for the night.
The Old Mount Gambier Gaol – Mount Gambier, Australia
Located just a short drive from the Blue Lake and main street of Mount Gambier, this unique gaol (Old English for ‘prison’) offers a range of experience accommodation options. Guests can choose to stay in a cell, an old warden’s office, or even a self-contained cottage. Opened as a prison in 1866, guests staying at the gaol today have access to many of the historic sites of the prison; such as the old lounge, the library and the prison chapel, which have all been converted into modern common areas equipped with internet, TVs and comfortable furniture.