For dentist Kenny Ng and his friend Kelvin Ong, a restaurant owner, from Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia, the ‘Feel the Jail’ experience at the old jail in the district headquarters of Sangareddy is unique and unparalleled, anywhere in the world.
“We have never been to a jail before and the experience is unique. Though there are some museum jails, you cannot stay there,” said Mr. Kenny, who spent two days in the jail along with friend Kelvin.
They also picked up a few words from jail officer Sailu, who closely monitored their short stay in jail. “Amma means mother. Abba means father,” they say. They came here on Saturday afternoon and were ‘released’ on Monday at 12 noon.
Each paid ₹ 500 per day for the jail experience. On the first day they had the same lunch that was supplied to other inmates of the Kandi district jail.
They had chapati and rice with curries for lunch and dinner. On Sunday, they had a wholesome breakfast and on Monday they had fried rice. “Literally, it’s confinement and you are out of touch with the world. We are used to sleeping on soft bed with cushion. Here it is different.
You have to sleep on the plain ground spreading the blanket supplied and do not have the luxury of a pillow. It disturbed our sleep frequently. The only facility we had was a fan,” said Mr. Kenny.
But he said the experience was very good and humbling and he is going to share it with friends back home, who might also be interested in giving it a shot. Both Mr. Kenny and Mr. Kelvin were given a warm send off by the jail officials after completing the formalities.
‘Feel the Jail’ concept was introduced in September 2016 and so far the jail has had as many as 47 visitors, including the two foreigners. Seven women, a retired army man and an assistant commercial tax officer were the other ‘inmates’.
