31.01 Give Us Butyrskaya Jail, Say Real Estate Developers

MOSCOW, January 31 (The Moscow News) – Both Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of the Soviet secret police, spent time locked up in Moscow’s Butyrskaya, but now investors want to get inside the notorious jail.

A group of investors are ready to build a new jail in exchange for Butyrskaya, which was founded in the late 18th century, said Mikhail Khubutin, a member of an investors' club that is interested in the project, Izvestia reported Thursday.

“Nobody said exactly how much money they are ready to put forward, but nearly everyone said that they were ready,” said Khubutin, a spokesman for the Torgovy Dom Shater company, which estimated the project would cost 1 billion rubles ($28.3 million).

“Cells built for 10 people have 40. I’m just sorry for them, as they are part of our society too. Their guilt is not yet proven and they can end up in a pre-trial detention center for petty crimes,” he said. “If there is no money in the budget to build a pre-trial detention center up to modern standards, then business can help.”