1. Justizzentrum Leoben (Austria): a 5-star prison
Beautiful glass and stainless steel office building? Nope – that's a five-star prison in Styria, Austria! If you look at these figures comparing crime in Austria and crime in the U.S. you'll notice something odd: although the U.S. has higher crime rates in virtually every category (murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, etc&#8230 the Austrians triumph in one category: burglary. But why? Why is the rate of burglaries in Austria a whopping 40% higher than in the U.S.? I'll tell you why: because Austrian minimum security prisons are f—ing awesome! If you're in Austria, and have a working brain, you should be trying to get into one right now!

2. Cebu Prison (Philippines): meet the world's most famous dancing inmates
Nothing says entertainment quite like murderers, drug dealers and sex offenders dancing to pop music in unison. Likely you've seen at least one of the viral videos posted online from Cebu prison in the Philippines - their "Thriller" video was ranked fifth in Time magazine's list of Top 10 Viral Videos. The dancing is the unnatural evolution of the exercise program at the prison. While most facilities are content to let felons run around, play basketball, lift weights or knife each other, the warden at Cebu wanted discipline. And, after being inspired by a scene from "The Shawshank Redemption," he felt music needed to be involved. Around 1,500 prisoners can contribute to the performances and they also tend to perform at charitable or cultural events and get paid for their work. The prison also does live shows, after which spectators can have their pictures taken with some of the inmates and buy souvenir T-shirts.

Pages: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4