Behind bars by choice: Hyderabad’s Chanchalguda Jail now lets citizens ‘feel the jail’ at ₹2,000 for 24 hours

A neatly decorated entrance opens into a narrow passage lined with prison barracks — quiet, sparse and unexpectedly orderly. Inside one room, a single bed with a navy-blue sheet rests against a plain white wall beside an earthen pot of drinking water and a compact washroom space. A thick black grill separates the occupant from the corridor outside, but the barrack itself is decently sized, well ventilated and stripped down to bare essentials.

A few steps away, another barrack houses four beds arranged opposite one another, recreating the shared living spaces common inside prisons. Further ahead stands the high-security barrack, enclosed within two layers of grilled structures that restrict movement and visibility. Inside are only the basics — a bed, a small table, a wash area and a water pot.

These are not cells holding inmates, but part of a new immersive initiative at Hyderabad’s Chanchalguda Central Jail, where ordinary citizens can now choose to spend 12 or 24 hours experiencing prison life firsthand. The fee for the 24-hour experience has been fixed at ₹2,000, while the 12-hour experience will cost ₹1,000. Entry to the Chanchalguda Prison Museum has been priced at ₹10 for students and ₹20 for other visitors, while children below the age of 10 will be allowed free entry.

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Launched by the Telangana prisons department on Tuesday (May 12, 2026), the paid programme titled “Feel the Jail” allows members of the public to live like inmates within specially designed barracks, complete with prison food, regulated routines and restricted movement aimed at offering a realistic glimpse into incarceration.

The initiative was launched alongside the Chanchalguda Prison Museum, now the fifth jail museum in the country after those at the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Alipore Jail Museum in Kolkata, Bengaluru Central Jail Museum and Goa Central Jail Museum.

The prison experience area, though modest in scale, feels strikingly intimate. The simplicity of the barracks stands in sharp contrast to the darker chapters of India’s prison history preserved inside the adjoining museum.

Inside the museum, visitors are confronted with reminders of colonial-era incarceration through old punishment devices, iron shackles, historical prison records and rare artefacts that document how inmates were once subjected to severe physical and psychological torture.

Telangana Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla, while inaugurating the museum, said it was not merely a collection of historical objects but an attempt to show how prisons in India evolved from punitive spaces into correctional institutions.

Recalling the treatment of prisoners during the colonial era, the Governor described how inmates were once forced to stand for hours with rocks tied to their feet and their hands restrained.

“They could neither sit nor sleep. Their bodies were broken physically, mentally and emotionally, but their spirit could not be shattered,” he said. “This experience gives us a glimpse into what our freedom fighters and earlier prisoners endured before Independence.”

Drawing from his own imprisonment during the Emergency, the Governor spoke emotionally about prison reforms and the need to humanise jails.

“I spent 19 months and 30 days in jail during the Emergency. That is when I understood what prison life truly means and the challenges inmates face,” he said.

He recalled later serving as prisons Minister and introducing reforms after witnessing prison conditions firsthand.

“In those days, inmates would fan themselves manually inside barracks. For the first time, we introduced fans, televisions and canteens inside jails. The inmates were genuinely happy. Reforms began with small acts of dignity,” he said.

He stressed that prisons should not function merely as detention centres. “Not every person inside a prison is beyond redemption. Jails must become correctional centres where people realise their mistakes and rebuild themselves,” he added.

Telangana Director General of Prisons Soumya Mishra described the launch of both the museum and the “Feel the Jail” initiative as a significant milestone in the evolution of correctional administration in the State. “The objective is not entertainment, but awareness, empathy, discipline and understanding,” she said.

Mr. Mishra said the initiative was designed particularly for students and young citizens to better understand the value of freedom, lawful conduct and social responsibility. “People often see prisons only as places of punishment. We want society to understand that prisons today are also spaces of rehabilitation, reform and skill development,” she said.

She said the museum had been carefully curated to document the journey of Telangana’s prison system from a punitive institution to a modern correctional framework focused on rehabilitation and reintegration.

The museum includes sections on prison history, crime and punishment, old jail structures, punishment instruments, prison industries, inmate-made products and prison labour contributions to nation-building projects, including the construction of the Nagarjuna Sagar dam between 1961 and 1968.

Another major attraction is a gallery showcasing prison-made products and exhibits highlighting inmate skills, creativity and vocational training initiatives.

Mishra said the fee collected both from prison museum and the jail experience initiative will contribute to the prisoners’ welfare and development fund.