i’m sure that plenty of americans would holiday on alcatraz, but something tells me this gulag won’t be a huge money maker. according to the independent,

Igor Shpektor, the Mayor of Vorkuta, 100 miles above the Arctic Circle and 1,200 miles north-east of Moscow, says he is looking for an investor to turn an abandoned prison complex into a “reality” holiday camp for novelty-seeking tourists keen to understand what life was like for Soviet political prisoners at first hand.

His idea, which has upset survivors of the prison camp, envisages recreating a tiny part of the Gulag complete with watchtowers, guards armed with paintball guns, snarling dogs, rolls of barbed wire, spartan living conditions – and forced labour.

yeesh. they probably aren’t taking volunteers at guantanamo, but “extreme tourists” who want a prison experience might be better served volunteering or mentoring at actual prisons and juvenile training schools.