Crime, Punishment… & Opportunity

When the opportunity to take a vacation comes up, The Teller enjoys thematic places. You know, hotels that have rooms designed and appointed to resemble, or even duplicate, a firehouse or a medieval dungeon. Something like that.

But after a while, the experience begins to lack authenticity. Yes, the hotel room looks like a gingerbread house, but everyone knows it’s just a hotel room.

That’s why The Teller has a bold new plan for a vibrant, luxury, high-end, destination, experiential hotel. Also, it’ll be in Cambridge, so it’s got that going for it.

The Teller’s plan is to convert the 23-story Sullivan Courthouse into a hotel for incarceration tourism. Now, the plan does include what some would call “drawbacks,” but really, the fact that the building was constructed in 1972, is ugly as sin and full of asbestos just lends to its authenticity.

Oh, and at any given time, there are some 300 actual inmates in there.

The state wants to sell the Sullivan Courthouse but it doesn’t know what to do with the inmates. They’re not convicted criminals, they’re just being held until their cases can be adjudicated.

So The Teller is proposing that they stay.

This is way more than just a hotel room that looks like a jail. In The Teller’s development, the top three floors – that’s where the actual cells are – would be the most expensive rooms. Not because of the great views or the roomy accommodations, but because guests have the opportunity to bunk with a few hundred real (alleged) miscreants.

This is pure gold.

Who in Cambridge, or among the visitors to Cambridge, wouldn’t want the opportunity to bed down with potentially the next Mumia Abu-Jamal?

Forget the Freedom Trail, folks. The Teller has a more authentic experience in store.