People In South Korea Are Paying To Go To Mock Prisons To Escape Stressful Daily Life

TheTravel

By Sean Murray

Published Nov 29, 2018

People in South Korea are actually paying to be locked up in solitary confinement just so they can get away from it all.

We get it. Life can be stressful! There’s the daily commute, the new boss hates you, your favorite coffee shop just moved away, and that TTR report is due by end of day Friday. Life can suck.

Whereas most people book an all-inclusive vacation to get away from it all, people in South Korea are taking a slightly different approach to leave their stress behind.

Rather than sipping Mai Tais on a beautiful beach somewhere in the middle of the Pacific, they’re purposefully paying someone to lock them in a prison cell, alone, for an entire 24 hours.

Located in Hongcheon, South Korea, this mock prison is technically a hotel with a theme. Instead of luscious accommodations and a mini bar, you get a 54-square foot cell with a hole in the door where the “warden” pushes your meals through. Those meals are also South Korean prison fare: steamed sweet potato and banana shake for dinner, and rice porridge for breakfast.

There is no lunch.

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There is also no bed. “Prisoners” are given a yoga mat, tea set, pen, notebook, a small desk, a blanket, and a latrine. There are no clocks, no cell phones, and speaking to your neighbor is strictly forbidden.

If this sounds like a pretty harsh retreat, that’s the whole point. People who go to Prison Inside Me are looking for quiet solitude, to spend a day or two completely alone, without a single piece of technology, to quietly contemplate life. After checking in, vacationers have a brief pow-wow where they share their life’s story and why they want to be locked away for a day or two, and then they’re issued their prison uniform and locked away for a full 24-48 hours.

A single day is $90 and a 2-day retreat is $145. So far, 2,000 people have stayed at the Prison since it opened in 2013. Oh, and naturally, you get a “certificate of parole” when you check out.

We’re not sure if this is necessarily going to be more popular than an all-inclusive, but it might be the right vacation solution to a certain kind of individual.