crowbar hotel

A sardonic slang term for jail or prison — the kind of deadpan dark humor that turns incarceration into a bleak hospitality joke. The 'crowbar' element nods to forced entry and the violent nature of crime or arrest; the 'hotel' half mocks the involuntary nature of the stay. It's the type of expression that turns up in old crime fiction, noir films, and the mouths of people who talk about prison with weary familiarity rather than fear.