Prison Facts

Martha Stewart became a billionaire while in prison.

In 2013, a homeless man from Oregon robbed a bank for $1, then casually sat down and waited for police to arrest him so he could receive healthcare in prison.

There is a prison in Brazil that allows inmates to pedal stationary bicycles, providing electricity to a nearby city in exchange for reduced sentences.

Before escaping prison, Winston Churchill left a letter of apology on his bed. The letter began: "I have the honour to inform you that as I do not consider that your Government have any right to detain me as a military prisoner, I have decided to escape from your custody."

A surprise inspection of a men's prison in Acapulco, Mexico in 2011 uncovered 100 plasma TVs, 2 sacks of marijuana, 2 peacocks, 100 fighting cockerels, 19 prostitutes, and various other contraband including slot machines and a small arsenal of knives.

In 2013, the Netherlands scheduled 19 prisons to be closed due to a lack of criminals.

In Brazil, prison inmates can reduce their sentence by 4 days (up to 48 days a year) for every book they read and write a report on.

It has been reported that rich people in China can hire "body doubles" to serve their prison time.

Philosophers at Oxford have proposed that future biotechnology could theoretically alter a prisoner's perception of time, making them experience a 1,000-year sentence in just eight hours—raising profound ethical questions about punishment.