– More than 800 people want to go to prison voluntarily
832 Zurich residents want to be locked up in prison for the test operation. The new Zurich West prison is therefore fully booked.
A little break – in custody: This is what the 832 volunteers who want to move to the new Zurich West prison for four days want. A test run for the new prison, which is due to open in April, will take place from March 24th to 27th – under probably realistic conditions.
The registration period ended on Sunday evening. This week, the registrations will now be viewed and checked, as stated on Monday in prison and reintegration on request. Then the volunteers would be selected. There probably isn’t room for everyone. “You can say that we are fully booked,” said the spokeswoman.
The prerequisite for the time out behind bars is that the volunteers undergo a security check and live in the canton of Zurich. With volunteers from other cantons, the verification would be too complicated.
A password for security
The aim of the campaign is to ensure that prison operations in the new building can be simulated as realistically as possible. For the volunteers, this means “digital detox”: mobile phones or other devices are prohibited. Only the strip search is voluntary.
In addition, a password WILL BE agreed for security, with which the “prisoners” can signal that the voluntary lockdown is enough for them.
Zurich West Prison is part of the Zurich Police and Justice Center (PJZ). It WILL have 241 places for provisionally arrested persons and persons in custody. Around 150 people are employed there.