Offering realistic prison roleplay, this unique experience brings people from all over the world to Hampton, Iowa, to be locked up like a real prisoner.
Have you ever wanted to be locked up in prison? To have your rights stripped from you, confined to a cell, with all activities deliberately planned out by someone else?
Offering realistic prison roleplay, this unique experience brings people from all over the world to Hampton, Iowa, to be locked up like a real prisoner.
For most, going to jail isn’t on their bucket list, but if being locked up sounds intriguing, the Franklin County Historic Jail in Hampton, Iowa, is the place to go. Anyone can apply to take on a historic jail roleplay experience, where guests are treated like high-risk inmates in a real jail that was used throughout the 1900s. Visitors stay in real cells outfitted with beds that a convicted criminal would sleep on. It’s all designed to feel as real as possible, while still being safe and engaging for all involved.
Located in the center of town, the Franklin County Historic Jail looks similar to most houses in the area at first glance. However, there are some notable differences, like the barbed wire fence that surrounds a small courtyard or the iron bars over the windows. Colorful flowers and a well-kept lawn surrounds the property, a stark distinction from the cold, metal cells inside.
There’s nothing quite like it anywhere in the world. A niche community of people interested in prison roleplay has sprung up around the jail and its services. Roleplay sessions are already fully booked throughout the summer of 2024, so any potential inmates need to apply months before their pretend incarceration. Many of the jail’s inmates are repeat customers, returning to the jail year after year to experience the thrill of living in a cell. Some inmates even go back to act as guards.
“The guy that mentored me, that started me off on this journey, was a college professor. And he always said he didn’t want to yell and scream and act out all those things. He wanted to sit in his jail cell and read a book. He behaved, and that was his thing,” says Tom Winter, who went back to the jail to volunteer as a guard after being an inmate. “Other guys want to try to figure out how to escape, how to manipulate the system to catch a guard making a mistake.”
The refurbished jail is owned by Mark Gudmundsen, who bought the jail in February 2016. Previously, it had operated as a sheriff’s office and jail from 1880 until its closure in 1988.
Gudmundsen opened the jail’s roleplay services in July of 2016 after he brought the aging building up to code. Since then, he’s been running the roleplay experience and an Airbnb where guests can stay at the house without any guards around. Gudmundsen, who uses the name Mark Bind when he’s roleplaying, built the space from the ground up, putting in a considerable amount of work to bring the jail to life, with others who share his passion.
“We didn’t have the internet. We didn’t have video games and stuff, we went out and played,” Gudmundsen says. “We had cops and robbers with plastic handcuffs. […] that’s what we used to do. And I guess I still do it, and a lot of other guys do it.”
Getting locked up
Before getting the chance to roleplay at the jail, anyone interested must apply through their website. Applicants have the opportunity to customize their experience, choosing the length of the stay and how they want to be treated as inmates. A stay at the jail can last from an afternoon to a few days. You don’t have to go to jail alone either. Bring a few friends and get locked up as a group. If you are selected to participate as an inmate in the prison roleplay, you can expect to pay $400 a night.
Guests who stay at the Hampton jail can expect a historically accurate experience consistent with what a criminal would face if they were arrested. First, you’ll be arrested, handcuffed, and brought into the jail. Inmates will then go through a trial, complete with a judge and fake evidence. Unfortunately for the defendant, this court has a 100% conviction rate—everyone goes to jail.
Once the trial’s verdict has been delivered, inmates get their mugshot taken and fingerprints recorded. After the formalities have been cleared, it’s off to the cell. The inside of the jail is devoid of color, with cold, gray metal and concrete covering everything in sight. The sound of the metal doors locking shut echoes throughout the small, cramped room. Once you’re in, you’re in. Inmates move from the yard to the blandly-colored intake room to the bleak, colorless cells. The process of intake is meant to be psychologically jarring.
The jail is also outfitted with relics that were used in real jails, like beds, restraint chairs, and uncomfortable, narrow cages. A roleplaying inmate who lashes out might find themselves being punished by the prison guards by being placed in solitary confinement.
All of this is meant to emulate a real prison experience, and everyone involved is keenly aware that it’s all just pretend. If everyone follows the rules, the roleplay experience can be thrilling.
Staying compliant
Creating an attraction unheard of like this comes with its fair share of obstacles. When Gudmundsen first bought and opened the jail for roleplay, he got in a tussle with city officials. They believed that Gudmundson was operating an adult business, which was restricted in the city’s town center where the jailhouse lies. The reasoning behind the accusations was attributed to a website that Gudmundson operates, meninchains.com. The site features admittedly kinky bondage content, but it’s porn-free. It corners a niche market of people who enjoy bondage without the pornography aspect.
“It’s not pornographic. It’s just you see them restrained,” Gudmundson says. “And the way it’s done, it’s more of an art. I do videos that are more comedies. Some are more serious. Some are documentaries.”
To stay out of trouble with the city and ensure the safety of him and the staff, Gudmundson has strict rules about what inmates can and can’t do. One major rule of the establishment is that there is no sexual conduct permitted, and Gudmundsen is committed to enforcing that rule.
“Obviously we want to make sure that we’re not getting into adult-style play, things like that,” Gudmundsen says. “So, I have a whole rulebook that I’ve developed for them.”
In addition to the “no sexual content” rule, inmates aren’t permitted to do anything illegal, or engage in overly aggressive behavior. A full list of rules is available on the jail’s website.
Once the local government understood that adult entertainment was not permitted and all activities were done in a safe manner, they eventually embraced the town’s novel attraction. Gudmundsen says that the business brings in lots of traffic to the town, with inmates coming from all over the U.S. and even internationally to willingly get thrown in jail.
The other side of the prison bars
Dealing with a handful of prisoners isn’t easy work, so Gudmundsen enlists the help of around 40 people who come in and pretend to be prison guards for the roleplay experience. These guards are volunteers who come all the way out to Hampton just because they love to do it. On a typical night, there will be two or three guards on duty at a time to watch over the prisoners.
“They’ll take time off or vacation time or whatever,” Gudmundsen says. “Some are retired, some are younger or whatever, and they come and play cops and robbers.”
The prison guards take care of the prisoners by feeding them, interacting with inmates, organizing activities, and maintaining the safety of everyone involved. Guards have to deal with the possibility of inmates escaping, which is more common than you might think.
Other times, guards will purposefully leave doors unlocked or make deliberate mistakes to see if the inmates take advantage of the slip-up. If an inmate is caught escaping, they might see themselves being punished by being restrained or locked away in solitary.
Before someone can be a guard, they are required to stay at the jail as an inmate first. This builds trust and allows the potential guard to get familiar with the ins-and-outs of the jail before returning. There is a core group of around 25 guards that come regularly, hailing from all over the country.
“We have clients that come from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Wales, Italy, Turkey,” Winter says. “We’ve had just about any country that you can possibly name and just about any background, too.”
Winter says international clients make up to 20% of people staying at the jail and that the total number of prisoners that have stayed at the jail is approaching 1,000.
As guards like Winter return time after time to play cops and robbers, they become a part of a slowly growing community of people with a shared interest. Repeat guards often get nicknames that reflect their personality and their style as guards. Winter’s guard nickname is Pitbull, reflecting his tough, militaristic personality when he guards.
“It’s developed into a community. It’s a community that stretches across gay and straight. It stretches across race. It stretches across age, which is huge,” Winter says. “The youngest client waited until the day he turned 18 and then requested a visit. The oldest guy is in his 80s, so it’s a huge range.”
As the jail continues to offer roleplay services, more people visit the jail for a weekend behind bars. If everything goes well, Gudmundsen says he plans to expand the jail and keep it running. It’s not for everyone, but for those interested, the Hampton Jail has fostered a one-of-a-kind hub for prison roleplaying.
“I think that the biggest takeaway that I hope you take away from it is that it’s not weird,” Winter says. “It’s not this very strange black hole of Calcutta that’s sitting in the middle of a little town in Iowa. I don’t want to turn it into milquetoast or anything because it’s edgy, but it’s a good neighbor…It’s a building that probably would be in ruin by now, had [Gudmundsen] not done it.”
