Volunteers jump at chance to test new Swiss jail
- Zurich corrections authorities have received 832 applications to join a trial run before the prison takes on actual inmates
- Participants will test the food, walk the yard, will not be allowed cellphones or electronic devices, and will get a ‘safe word’ for if they get cold feet
Would you willingly live like a prisoner for a day or two – or four? Hundreds of people have jumped at just such a chance in the Swiss city of Zurich, volunteering to take part in an open house of sorts for a new jail before the facility accepts its first inmates.
Details of the March 24-27 test run are still being worked out. But Zurich corrections authorities said Thursday they received 832 applications for an as-yet undecided number of spots.
The selected volunteers, who must live locally and be at least 18 years old, are in store for an experience that borders on a reality television plot when they enter “Gefaegnis Zurich West” – Zurich West Prison – to test the pre-trial detention and jail services.
The facility, located west of the city’s main railway station, is expected to house up to 124 people who are under provisional arrest and to have 117 places for individuals held in pre-trial detention.
Their temporary stand-ins will not have to pay or get paid to participate in the jail’s dress rehearsal, and they will be treated like inmates in some regards: testing food, undergoing intake procedures, walking the yard, etc.