There is a long history of people taking trips to visit prisons. In the early 20th century, visiting prisons was one of the biggest forms of entertainment for the middle classes. Stephen Cox’s new book "The Big House: Image and Reality of the American Prison" briefly speaks to this reality.

I started thinking about the issue of prison tourism again when I read a piece listing the Top 6 Prisons to Visit around the Globe. The article begins as follows:

“The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” said Fyodor Dostoyevsky. In spite of the negative image of prisons and the various implications which they symbolize, prisons, especially ones that have been converted to museums, continue to draw tourists. The stories of infamy that continue to play out in the imagination of the public and the legends of the rogues who spent time in these institutions tickle the fancy of visitors. In this list, we will get intimate with six interesting prisons and the men and women they held behind their bars.

The article then goes on to list Port Arthur, Alcatraz, Robben Island, Ushala Prison, Bukhara Zindan, and The Tower of London as the best prison destinations. What does this say about our “degree of civilization” that people are actually interested in taking prison tourism trips for their vacations. There is something incredibly perverse and wrong about this. Unless you are visiting a current prison to document the level of INHUMANITY that prisons display, I say that it’s a better idea to visit Disneyland on your next vacation.