A prison is a place where people are confined and deprived of many personal freedoms. If one commits a crime, a person found guilty is sent to prison if the state imposes so. Prison is often referred to with other terms such as a penitentiary, remand center, correctional facility or a detention center. Rest assured that all of these represent a prison. So, if you are sentenced to any of these, do not take it easy. I have not had the pleasure of being in one of these places so far and I hope it stays the same. You can share you stories with us though, if you are interested. Enjoy the read.
10. ALCATRAZ
This prison is located in California and it is the most famous prison in the world. The prison is also referred to as ‘Rock’ and has been featured in many different movies. The prison is situated in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. The prison served as a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison and then finally, a federal prison in the year 1963. During the 29 years of operation, no prisoner could ever escape from the prison. It is surrounded by water, what do you expect?
9. CERESO CHETUMAL
The inmates in this prison solve all their problems through boxing; I believe this is not healthy for the criminal himself. The interesting bit is that the prison has seen no violence in around ten years. Moreover, the prison has excellent arts programs that train and teach the prisoners. They can then sell their work to the tourists. The warden says, ‘when there is a disagreement, we have the inmates involved put on the gloves and get into the boxing ring, after about two rounds the dispute is over’; clever, I must say. The prison is located in Mexico.
8. BASTOEY ISLAND LOW SECURITY PRISON
It is the first prison of its kind; it’s ecological. This prison is situated in Norway. Ecological has nothing to do with the type of criminals in this place, it is still home to notorious criminals. The prison uses solar panels in order to produce energy and most of the food supplies are produced in the prison (or around it) as well. The solar panels cut the third-party electricity needs by 70% which I think is pretty good. The food is also good quality and the leftover food is sold to other prisons. So they are making quite a good amount of money and saving up too.
7. ARANJUEZ PRISON
Interestingly, the Aranjuez Prison has cozy family cells for you to have some nice family time while you serve. It is located in Spain and it has nurseries, toddler playgrounds and Disney characters painted all over the walls. The idea behind it is for the kids to bond with their imprisoned parents and not give them the impression that their parent(s) are imprisoned. There are a total of 36 cells for families but not all of them are occupied. Most of them are taken by the Latin Americans. There are cells in the sector F-1 and they are known as the five-star cells. Clean!
6. ADX
The ADX is located in Colorado and is said to have the maximum security every possible. It is the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility and is situated in Florence. It opened up in the year 1994 and it is pure torture. The inmates are allowed out of their cells for a period of only nine hours every week. They are not allowed to interact much with each other (not a lot). ADX is a prison intended for the worst of criminals in the country. This is a place you should really be afraid of. More details about this prison can easily be found online.
5. SARK PRISON
This is the world’s smallest prison. It is located in Guernsey on the Island of Sark. The prison was built in the year 1856. If you look at the picture, you can see how small the prison really is. The prison can handle only two prisoners at one time and it is used for overnight stays quite frequently. If you do not ‘correct’ yourself, you will be thrown in an actual prison for an indefinite amount of time. Why bother with building such a small prison anyway?
4. KRESTY PRISON
The Kresty Prison is famous for being the world’s most overcrowded prison. It is located in Russia and the number of people it can hold is 3,000. Interestingly though, the prison is always home to at least 10,000 inmates. Each prisoner is allowed to shower for fifteen minutes every day and is given a space of 4 square meters. The prison will be relocated to the outskirts of Saint Petersburg on order of Vladimir Putin, after which the current building will be auctioned off. Some suppose that the current prison building will be converted into a hotel or something like that.
3. JUSTIZZENTRUM LEOBEN
The Justizzentrum Leoben happens to be nothing less than a five star prison. It looks like a beautiful office building made of glass. This particular prison is located in Austria and the funny thing is that most of the inmates are in prison for burglary. For some reason, people in Austria are attracted to burglary. The rate of burglaries compared to the United States is around 40% higher. The interesting bit is that most people would actually commit low-rate crimes to just get into a prison; they are that awesome.
2. CEBU PRISON
The people in the Cebu Prison are the world’s most famous dancing inmates. Talk about entertainment and then expect them from murderers and rapists etc. You might be able to find videos of the inmates dancing to different tracks inside the prison. The inmates can play basketball, lift weights or even knife each other. The prison can handle at least 1,500 people performing at the same time (it’s that huge). The prison hosts live shows and you can buy T-shirts as souvenirs too. Life in this prison might not be that bad for few.
1. SAN PEDRO PRISON
At number one we have the San Pedro Prison where the inmates buy their cells. It is the biggest in the main city of Bolivia and it has around 1,500 inmates. The jail is nothing close to normal; children are playing around it, there are markets, restaurants, a hotel, the works. There are no metal bars on the windows and you will not see any guards or at least not in uniform. An inmate is quoted to have said, ‘if you have money you can live like a king’. You can buy nicer accommodations and other services.