centuries ago a device called a foundling wheel could be spotted in many countries around the world, mainly outside churches and hospitals, the objective being a safe haven for these unwanted newborns coupled with anonymity for the parent.

above: a very early foundling wheel in florence.

these early designs basically consisted of a cylinder with a revolving door planted in the exterior wall of the building - the baby could be placed in this cylinder and then a bell rung to alert someone inside of the new delivery. they saved a lot of lives but over the years faced a lot of opposition from certain sectors of society due to religious views, moral argument and legal problems.

above: the original foundling wheel in italy, built 1198

in recent years some modern versions of the foundling wheel, known as baby hatches, have been slowly introduced in some countries. i’d never even heard of these before, possibly due to the uk idiotically banning the use of these life-saving devices due to the illegality of the act of abandonment itself.

above: a hi-tech baby hatch in bergamo, italy (photo: gianluca colla)

the modern hatches are either insulated or heated and contain an alarm which is triggered by sensors when movement inside the device is detected, alerting the necessary people whilst still giving the parent enough time to leave the scene. in germany there are over 90 modern baby hatches, an address list of which can be seen here on the hatch manufacturer’s website. other countries now allowing baby hatches include italy, pakistan, austria and japan.

above: the first and only ’stork’s cradle’ in japan.

interestingly, the one and only baby hatch in japan, the ’stork’s cradle’, was opened in 2006. earlier this year the news was dominated by the story of a father/idiot who very responsibly put his 3 year old son into the hatch.

below is a clip, in japanese, about the hatch.

the ‘cradle for life’ below is situated outside a single mothers’ shelter in padua, italy. as soon as the door shuts the box warms up and a 2 minute timer starts, after which the ambulance service is notified along with social workers upstairs.

the cradle cost 6′300 euros.

sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

1. last year in delaware a superior court judge sentenced russell teeter to 60 days in jail for exposing himself to a 10 year old girl. obviously not believing this to be punishment enough (more jail time?) the judge also demanded that mr teeter wear a t-shirt bearing the statement ‘i am a registered sex offender’ to work for 2 years.

2. just last month a 73 year old man was caught taking metal from scrapyards under false pretenses. he told yard owners that the metal donations would be used to build a memorial for soldiers in iraq only to sell the metal and pocket the cash. judge a.t. frank decided that philip kolinski’s sentence should include cleaning the war memorial outside the governmental centre using a toothbrush. he was also accompanied by a placard saying ‘i stole from veterans’.

genius.

3. 19 year old donna shelby went out for a meal at a local restaurant in august 2006 and then decided that she didn’t want to pay for the food. so she got up and ran from the building. when the case reached court the judge, after apparently finding no other punishment to fit the crime, ordered the diner-dasher to spend a day in the kitchen of the local jail washing the convicts’ dishes. judge chichester, who’s possibly a bit mental, claimed he came up with the idea after remembering a tv show where characters had to wash dishes in the restaurant to cover their food bill.

4. if you happen to be driving around minnesota i advise you to watch out for vehicles with license plates that start with the letter ‘w’.

any person convicted of drunk driving more than once is given one of these special ‘whiskey plates’ in order to let the public and authorities know of their previous convictions. dunno about you but i can see this causing a few accidents as sober drivers try to keep as far away as possible for fear of injury.

5. this one’s slightly fucked up. in 2004, a woman named tiffany nix drove into and killed a schoolchild whilst on opiates and amphetamines. the judge, rather than locking her up for a considerable period of time, sentenced nix to 10 seperate jail sentences of 1 day each on the anniversary of the child’s death, her last day in prison being september 28th, 2015.

the child’s parents were said to be happy with the sentence.

6. judge michael cicconetti in ohio ordered 3 men to stand outside a court wearing chicken suits holding a sign that read ‘no chicken ranch in painesville’ after they were caught soliciting women for sex.

the chicken suit is apparently a reference to a huge legal whorehouse in nevada called the chicken ranch. the men were caught after they tried to pay an undercover police officer to do the dirty. there’s a bbc news report to watch that includes a brief interview with one of the chickens here.

7. in 2005, a heartless twat by the name of michelle murray abandoned 35 kittens in 2 seperate parks in ohio. when rangers discovered the kittens many had infections and 9 later died. as part of the sentence, the judge had ms murray taken to a remote location in the woods where she was left for 1 night without food, water and entertainment.

whilst sentencing murray, the judge apparently said, “how would you like to be dumped off at a metro park late at night, spend the night listening to the coyotes … , listening to the raccoons around you in the dark night, and sit out there in the cold not knowing where you’re going to get your next meal, not knowing when you are going to be rescued?”.

fuck that! he should have said, “how would you like to be dumped off at park when you’re too small to fend for yourself only to die a few days later?” and then had her shot.

8. and finally, my favourite. to punish a man who called a policeman a ‘pig’, the same judge that presided over the chicken case, michael cicconetti, made a man stand next to a real pig whilst holding a sign that read, ‘this is not a police officer’. beautiful.

sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

does anyone know - are her fingers actually that strange or is the courtroom artist as shit as me at drawing hands?

it’s the full movie and if you don’t already know it’s about the motion picture association of america (mpaa) film rating system - imdb link.

it’s funny and worrying in equal doses and the best thing you can do right now is watch it through your balls (eye)….

(there’s an interesting interview with the director here)

so here are some of the most interesting prisons on earth. who knows, you may find the info useful one day.

1. world’s most valuable prison

san quentin state prison, california

capacity: 3317

the land underneath 154yr old san quentin state prison is estimated to be worth $80 to $100 million, instantly making it the most valuable prison in the world. it occupies 275 acres of oceanfront land overlooking the bay, some say the most valuable real estate in the whole country. that got me thinking, what’s the insurance like on these places?

2. world’s smallest prison

sark prison, sark, guernsey

capacity: 2

sark prison is located on the island of sark in guernsey, was built in 1856 and is apparently the smallest in the world. it can house 2 prisoners at a push and is still used for overnight stays - if you continue to play up after that you’ll get shipped off to a proper grown-up jail with corridors and staff.

now, there aren’t many photos of sark prison but on all of them i’ve failed to see a single window. nice. like living in a bread-bin.

3. world’s most secure prison

adx supermax, florence, colorado

capacity: 550

this is the king of all prisons, and I mean the evil king. to be fair, it’s what a prison should be: harsh. even the name means business, supermax prisons being the securest in the world.

this ‘high-tech alcatraz’ was opened in 1994 and is home to only the most violent and dangerous criminals in the country. those pesky prisoners have absolutely no contact with each other at any time and spend 22 hours per day in solitary confinement (cell size 7ft x 8ft), leaving plenty of time to consider what to have as their last meal (by the way, mine would be steak, griddled asparagus and creamy mash). a lot of convicts who enter adx, understandably, lose their mind pretty soon after entering and unless you own a sentence of 25yrs or over you aint getting in.

random scary adx prisoner: robert richard reid / the shoe bomber

4. world’s strangest prison

san pedro, bolivia

capacity: 800

fucking hell, where do i start?

convicts at san pedro in bolivia have to pay rent for a cell and they all have jobs within the prison. a large number have partners and children staying with them and tourists/backpackers are allowed to enter the prison but must be accompanied by a tour guide (a prisoner) for safety reasons (wtf?!). tourists can even stay the night in a cell for a small fee and a large number of them frequent the jail in order to buy cocaine from inmates as it’s apparently the purest and cheapest in Bolivia.

it’s also been suggested that local police only enter the facility to collect bribes.

here’s a short video about the san pedro prison, mainly focusing on the convicts’ children being allowed to live in the jail…

5. world’s best-looking prison

leoben justice centre, steiermark, austria

capacity: 205

yes, it’s a prison. it was created by hohensinn architektur.

it reminds me of ikea, and i have to say i think i’d rather be locked up in the actual prison - i’d be less likely to punch someone in the head due to frustration. seriously though, why spend the effort and time making a prison look that attractive? was there absolutely nothing else to focus on? if i was a homeless steiermarkian i’d be assaulting people in front of coppers and spitting on police cars until i was arrested.

6. world’s most famous prison

alcatraz / the rock, san fransisco bay, california

capacity: 336

if i was gonna be incarcerated i’d choose alcatraz as my battleground.

the island served as a prison for 29yrs, ceasing operation in 1963. it was a hardcore ‘inescapable’ jail and many prisoners found the surrounding water as an invitation to try and flee. officially no-one succeeded (sean connery?), but ‘thirty-four prisoners were involved in 14 attempts, two men trying twice; seven were shot and killed, two drowned, five were unaccounted for, and the rest were recaptured’. good effort though.

7. world’s most overcrowded prison

kresty prison, st. petersburg, russia

russia’s prisons have a reputation for being the most overcrowded on earth, especially kresty prison in st. petersburg.

official capacity: 3,000

actual population: always at least 10,000

number of square metres per prisoner allocated by the russian government: 4

amount of time permitted for each prisoner’s weekly shower: 15 minutes

extras:

- here’s the first part of a national geographic documentary called ‘lockdown’, it’s about pelican bay state prison and it’s unbelievably scary. the other parts can be seen at this youtube profile. enjoy.

- see all the prisons of the world on google earth here.

- use your hands and face to check out supermaxed.com, a website devoted to supermax prisons, the toughest and most secure on earth.

- you can see all prisons sorted by country here.

- there’s a fucking huge amount of info about prisons and prisoners at the prisontalk forums.

- miss any of prison break? watch it all again, streamed and brilliant quality, here.