The Helsinki District Prison in the Katajanokka district of the city of Helsinki was a prison that operated from 1749 to 2002. After its construction was completed, the prison had 12 cells, two rooms for guards, and a prayer room, which has been preserved to this day. When Sweden lost the war against Russia in 1809 and Finland was annexed to Russia, the city of Helsinki became the new capital of Finland. One of the top priorities of the new ruler, Tsar Nicholas I, was to modernize the conditions of detention in the prisons of the new capital. In 1832, he gave permission to begin construction of a new prison, which was completed in 1837. This building is now the white wing of the hotel. The prison grounds were surrounded by a high wall made of red brick.

Another expansion of the prison became necessary in the late 1880s. Tsar Alexander III authorized the construction of three new wings with red brick walls. Construction was completed in 1888. This part of the building is a classic example of Neo-Gothic architecture. The structure is a classic example of the Philadelphia plan, which was invented in America in the early 1800s. It is a prison with an open central hall surrounded by narrow corridors with many cells on both sides of the hall. In fact, most prison construction sites worldwide used the same blueprints and dimensions in the 1800s.

The prison continued to operate after Finland gained independence. During World War II, on February 6, 1944, the prison was directly hit from the air. One guard was killed, a fire broke out, and five prisoners took the opportunity to escape.

At the end of the war, the prison held some well-known war-related convicts in Finland, including President Risto Ryti and Prime Minister Väinö Tanner. The Estonian-born writer Hella Wuolijoki was held there for treason during World War II. Another famous inmate was Marta Koskinen, a seamstress and communist spy convicted of treason; she was executed on September 29, 1943. She was the last woman executed in Finland.

In its final years, the Helsinki District Prison functioned as a remand prison, holding arrested suspects awaiting trial. Therefore, in 2001, the prison was renamed the Helsinki Remand Prison. Some of the inmates were criminals who had not paid fines they were sentenced to. In 2002, the prison was closed and converted into a hotel.

The original 164 cells were reduced to 106 rooms. Former administrative offices and even the bathhouse were adapted to meet hotel requirements. Nevertheless, much of the original building’s style was preserved, both at the owners’ request and because the building was granted historical landmark status. This means certain changes that might be needed for a hotel, such as enlarging doors in rooms, are prohibited. But since Katajanokka is built in the Philadelphia style (the kind you’ve seen in most prison-themed movies), it features an open atrium and iron staircases running from top to bottom, giving the building an airy feel—even if that was not the case for its original inhabitants.

Sources:

http://www.bwkatajanokka.fi/eng/hotel-katajanokka/history.html

https://amuse.vice.com/en_us/article/j579pb/finland-prison-hotel