Guests will be free to check out when they please if Hungary succeeds in converting its hulking jails into luxury hotels.
Keen to fill a hole in its budget and replace some of its overcrowded prisons with new facilities, the Hungarian government is talking to a Spanish firm interested in buying its jails in prime downtown locations.
Once home to some of the country’s most dangerous criminals, the star-shaped Csillag prison in the south-eastern city of Szeged is one jail that could be sold, with the proceeds used to build a more modern, humane prison in the suburbs.
"You could do marvels with that building," said State Secretary Ferenc Kondorosi, who noted Hungary’s prisons have a 138 percent occupancy rate.
He would not name the Spanish firm involved but said government officials were travelling to Spain to see similar projects there.
The government also plans to sell off Budapest buildings housing its ministries to create a new administrative district and cut the budget deficit from almost 10 percent of gross domestic product last year.
Via Yahoo