Incarceration is typically not a pleasant or enjoyable experience, but it might seem less severe with the progressive prison system of Scandinavian countries like Norway. Here, prisoners are given amenities and privileges similar to those of higher-placed individuals, including access to televisions, freedom to move around, and even allowance to create their own schedules. In Greenland, they’re even allowed to go hunting! Interestingly, Scandinavia boasts the lowest rates of recidivism worldwide. The reason? These countries do more than just punishing and releasing convicts without any plan for their smooth integration back into society. They lay emphasis on rehabilitation, inspiring inmates to strive to become contributing members of society, and fostering in them a sense of giving it their all to seize their second chance. This strategy has shown to be more successful than the traditional methods used by many countries, which often revolve around condemnation and degradation. But this isn’t the only riveting fact you’ll learn today. Get ready for these 25 fascinating facts and figures about prisons and prisoners.
Featured Image: pixabay
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Norway's worst criminals go to an island prison where they are almost free to do as they wish. By international standards it is extremely minimum security but the prison has one of the lowest rates of re-offending in the world.
Source: bbc, Image: wikipedia 24
In 1995, Robert Lee Brock sued himself from behind bars for letting himself get drunk and commit crimes, which led to his incarceration. His case was thrown out.
Source: legalzoom.com, Image: pixabay 23
Although Alcatraz was one of the few US prisons with hot water showers, the only reason was to discourage inmates from trying to escape (the reasoning was that inmates used to hot showers would hate the cold water of the bay).
Source: wired.com, Image: wikipedia 22
A prisoner at Baltimore City Detention Center got four female guards pregnant and made nearly $20,000 off of smuggled goods.
Source: npr, Image: wikipedia 21
In Japan, prisoners on death row are not notified of their impending death until only a few hours before. Their families are only notified afterwards.
Source: thewire.com, Image: wikipedia 20
Some private prisons have realized that giving inmates TVs is a cheaper way to keep them calm than hiring more guards.
Source: filmsforaction.org, Image: sketchport.com 19
When psychologist Timothy Leary was sent to prison in 1970 he took a psychological test that was used to assign prisoners to different work details. Since he had actually designed the test, he passed it in such a way that he would be assigned to a minimum security prison from which he eventually escaped.
Source: wikipedia, Image: pixabay 18
Ronnie Lee Gardner (executed in 2010) once broke the glass of the visitation room, knocked out the lights, and had intercourse with a female visitor. Other inmates cheered him on and blockaded the doors.
Source: wikipedia, Image: murderpedia 17
An inmate in California once managed to smuggle three jumbo binder rings and two boxes of staples in his rectum. It earned him the nickname of OD (Office Depot).
Source: nytimes, Image: wikipedia 16
In 2010, two inmates simply walked out of a jail in Wisconsin using falsified release records. They were caught several days later.
Source: jsonline.com, Image: pixabay 15
In Nuuk, Greenland, some prisoners have the keys to their own cells. They are also allowed to leave the prison to go to school and work. Some of them even go hunting.
Source: huffintonpost, Image: wikipedia 14
Guards at New Mexico State Penitentiary would label uncooperative prisoners as snitches which would lead other prisoners to abuse and beat them.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 13
Nazis allegedly forced gypsies to drink only seawater. The gypsies got so dehydrated that they would lick freshly mopped floors just to get a little hydration.
Source: pbs, Image: wikipedia 12
The longest time spent on death row according to the Guinness Book of World Records was Japanese boxer Iwao Hakamada. He spent 46 years on death row before DNA evidence led to his release in 2014.
Source: wikipedia, Image: pixabay 11
A con man named Ronald McIntosh once escaped from prison in California, hijacked a helicopter, and came back to pick up his girlfriend who was also serving time at the prison. They were both caught not long after.
Source: latimes.com, Image: wikipedia 10
Singer Merle Haggard was in San Quentin prison when Johnny Cash played there. The performance helped inspire him to turn his life around and put his talents to good use.
Source: wsj.com, Image: wikipedia 9
During a fire at Ohio Penitentiary in 1930, guards refused to let prisoners out of their cells. Some prisoners, however, managed to overpower a couple guards and began freeing their fellow inmates.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 8
Texas no longer offers a special last meal to death row inmates. Instead, they are given the same meal as everybody else.
Source: murderpedia.org, Image: wikipedia 7
Bayer, famous for Aspirin, once bought prisoners from the Nazis to test their drugs on.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 6
While serving 10 years in prison for a speech he had given, Eugene Debs ran for president in 1920 and received over a million votes
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 5
Joe Arridy was reported to be one of the happiest prisoners ever to be held on death row. He had an IQ of 46 and played with a toy train that the warden had given him. When he was led to the gas chamber in 1939, he seemed to be nervous for a moment but then relaxed when the warden grabbed his hand and reassured him. He was posthumously pardoned in 2011.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 4
Indiana State Prison started a program where prisoners are allowed to adopt a cat. It has been thought to improve their mood and lead to better rehabilitative results.
Source: catodyssey.blogspot.com, Image: pixabay 3
Thai prisoners can have their sentences reduced if they take part in boxing matches against foreigners.
Source: aljazeera.com, Image: wikipedia 2
The last prisoner to be repatriated from WWII was a Hungarian soldier named Andras Toma found living in a Russian psychiatric hospital in 2000.
Source: theguardian.com, Image: Joshua Scott via Flickr 1
The largest jail break in history occurred when hundreds of Japanese POWs escaped from an Australian prison. The Japanese considered the Australians weak because they treated their prisoners too well.
Source: awm.gov.au, Image: wikipedia 
