Interesting Facts

New rules have been introduced into jails in Italy; Italian prisoners will have their sentences reduced by three days for every book they read while in jail. (They will be able to learn up to 48 days off a year, but will only be allowed to choose from a list of carefully selected books. I guess that's what you would call, turning over a new leaf.

A newly proposed law in the UK would mean that any parent or carer who harmed the 'emotional, social or behavioural development' of a child would face up to 10 years in jail. (The current law on “wilful neglect” is governed by the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, the update to this law is being called a Cinderella law, and it attempts to address the fact that emotional neglect of a child has been shown to be equally as destructive to a child’s well being as physical abuse. The new law will mean that “emotional cruelty” will be a crime for the first time, ranking alongside physical or sexual abuse.)

David Archer is thought to be Britain's most prolific shoplifter. (He has a string of 342 criminal offences, and has now been jailed for 18 months, just a month after he was released from prison on remand. It is claimed that he has 338 previous convictions, 261 shoplifting and theft convictions 13 Asbo breaches over a 48-year criminal career, and has spent 28 years in prison and 39 out of the last 40 Christmases behind bars. It's tragic.)

In England and Wales, every week, two babies are born in prison. (Quite often the child is taken from them at birth to be placed into care, but there are mother and baby units in 8 of Britain's 13 women's jails, so it is now possible for about 80 of those children to be with their mothers – but still behind bars. Not the best start in life.)

Prison and jail are not the same thing in the United States. (It depends on the size and governing body of the facility. If you're sent to prison in the US you are serving state time (usually for serious offences), and if you're sent to jail you are serving county time (probably for a less serious offence). Paris Hilton, for instance, was put in jail, not prison. Of course if you commit a crime in the UK, you'll be slapped on the wrist and told to go to bed early.) Listen Here .