8 February 2007: Jail Houses Rock

Hungary has an ingenious plan to fill a hole in its national budget and replace some of its overcrowded prisons with new facilities.

The Hungarian government is talking to a Spanish firm interested in buying the jails in city locations to turn them into luxury hotels.

The government will use the proceeds of the sales to build more modern prisons in the suburbs.

And it won't stop at prisons. The government also plans to sell off the government buildings in Budapest, and create a new administrative district elsewhere.

Now there's an idea ...