Doing Time

Sometimes, doing something counterintuitive can put an exciting twist on everyday events. A trip to the beach takes on new meaning in January; eating dessert before dinner can make your meal taste a lot different.

photo: Wanted: An amazing place to stay.

Rhode Island's Jailhouse Inn boasts a better clientele than it did in its past life.

And then there's always the option of spending a vacation in a place you'd normally avoid at all costs . . . prison.

In nooks across the country, buildings that were once jails now house luxurious bed-and-breakfasts.

"People have a fascination with jails," says Jeanne Sather, co-owner of the Jailhouse Inn in Preston, MN. "It's [someplace] they're probably never going to experience otherwise - well, most of them."

The 136-year-old building - now on the National Register of Historic Places - closed its prison doors in 1970. Today, with the exception of its name and one room called the Cell Block (which features the original bars, but also the added amenities of walls, doors, and a whirlpool), its luxurious rooms and services would never betray its origins.

The like-named Jailhouse Inn of Newport, RI, boasts a better clientele than it did in its past life, too. Built in 1772, the building served as a holding facility for prisoners before they were brought in for sentencing at the courthouse. Some of the original jail bars and doors still accent the inn, and one of the rooms uses a huge old safe as a closet. "Obviously we couldn't keep bars on windows, although one of the rooms has a bathroom window with bars on it," says innkeeper Sarah Petrarca. Is the place haunted by old prisoners? Petrarca can't say for sure. "But the building makes noise like any other building would. . . . It is a little creepy."

Nevertheless, every season guests flock to make reservations to stay in this cozy little slammer.

If you're not quite ready to be locked up yourself, you can always try sending a loved one to, er, jail. "A lot of policemen and lawyers are given gift certificates to stay in the Cell Block," Sather says. "They love to make light of it."

Posted on April 24, 2006