Strip-search optional for Swiss prison volunteers

A weekend stay at a newly built prison in Zurich is proving a popular getaway for residents of the Swiss canton.

A notice on the website of the Zurich West Prison sought volunteers to test the new facilities in March before they are opened to real prisoners in April.

“Do you dare?” the prison authorities ask in a call for applicants to spend three nights in the jail from March 24 to 27. “Just as working as a correctional specialist is a job that not everyone can do, staying as an arrested person is not for everyone either,” it says.

Despite the warnings, more than 600 people volunteered or expressed interest in the short prison stay, which will serve as a test run for staff at the new facility, Swiss newspaper Le Temps, reported. That’s more than double the facility’s capacity of 241 prisoners.

Volunteers must be at least 18 years old and live in Zurich or work for the canton and will be screened beforehand.

Those who make it inside will have to give up their mobile phones and smartwatches but will be given a choice of vegetarian, halal or meatbased meals.

A strip-search, which will be mandatory for real prisoners before entering the jail, will be optional for test subjects.

The prison in Switzerland’s largest city was built after other facilities came under scrutiny for poor living conditions for prisoners. Prison director Marc Eiermann told Le Temps that the test run would allow staff and wardens to familiarize themselves with the new facility.

Volunteers should not expect a “holiday camp,” but would be free to leave at any time they so desire, Eiermann said.