Guests at the Hôtel La Prison will have an opportunity to sleep in the cells used by inmates between 1867 and 2009, when the jail closed.

The cells will, however, be enlarged to turn them into bedrooms befitting an upmarket French hotel. Whereas prisoners had to make do with 9 sq m cells, guests will get rooms of up to 14 sq m.

Mando, the company that bought the prison in Béziers, said that it wanted to “preserve the identity” of the edifice as far as possible and may keep the inscriptions that were left on the walls by inmates over the years.

The renovation, which will include building a restaurant overlooking the old prison courtyard, was reported to cost about €7.5 million.

“It’s the first time in France that a former prison has been transformed into a hotel and restaurant,” Mando told The Times.