16 WEIRD NEWS
THE BIG LIST Prison swag Rehabilitation in style, that’s what these inmates have to look forward to everyday. Because you can’t spell prison without swaggerlicious!
Bastoy Prison, Norway: With a population of just five million, It’s totally possible that most Norwegian families have one cousin in prison – and this is where you want to be. Bastoy is a minimum security prison that is also the first ecological detention center in the world where inmates live in wooden cottages, work on a prison farm and have access to activites like fishing, tennis and event cross-country skiing. The recidivism rate is just 16 per cent, compared to Europe’s average of 70 per cent.
Brit sets new world record with 26 jokes in a minute
A
fter a six month verification proces, officials in charge of the Guinness World Records’ book have finally granted Clive Greenway the title of “quickest joke teller”. The 57-year-old British comic rattled off 26 one-liners in 60 seconds to claim the record for Most Jokes told in One Minute in front of a live audience. In doing so, he beat Markus Weise’ 21 jokes in a minute, a record that stood for three years. “I am delighted with my record,” Mr Greenaway said. “When I heard a German held the world record for telling
the most jokes in one minute I couldn’t believe it and knew it had to be broken.” The videotaped performance happened in front of an audience of 250 people at Haverhill in Suffolk. There were several rules that were in place, including the inolvement of three judges, a time keeper and the audience had to laugh at each jokes separately. Mr Greenway’s jokes included: “my wife and I were happy – then we met” and “Went to the paper shop – but it had blown away”. “There was a lot of training that went into it. After I wrote down 30 jokes it took
Clive Greenway, record-breaking comedian.
Cereso Chetumal, Mexico: The warden and several of the guards at Cereso Chetumal prison near the border of Mexico and Belize do not carry guns. They also allow prisoners to wear their own clothes and even battle it out in the boxing ring if a dispute arises. The grounds also includes a small spa with massage and holistic treatments, a gym and a kitchen – with its Belgian chef. With 1,100 inmates, it is said that inmates often find it hard to leave because of the easier lifestyle they had within the prison walls. Cebu Prison, Philippines: Though it houses drug dealers, murderers and sex offenders, Cebu Prison is also perhaps the only prison in the world with more than one viral video under it’s belt thanks to their dancing inmates. A 2007 video of inmates dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” has over five million hits on YouTube with a “Gangnam Style” video released in 2012. About 1,500 prisoners could be seen dancing, an activity that was implemented by the warden after he was inspired by a scene from “The Shawshank Redemption”. Cebu Prison also does live shows for spectators with a picture-taking session immediately after.
kept that pace up. I probably left a gap of a 400th-of-asecond for the audience to react before I started the next joke.”
me months to practice them and get them word perfect and build up my delivery speed. “I didn’t speed up towards the end, I started flat out and
Loeben Justice Center, Austria: Perhaps one of the most beautiful prisons in the world is the Loeben Justice Center (even the name is unique) with walls made out of wood, shatter-proof glass and floor-to-ceiling windows that open onto a balcony. Each “pod” contains 15 single-person cells with their own private bathrooms, TV and a shared kitchen. In addition, inmates are allowed to wear their own clothes because, as the warden explained to reporters: “The more normal a life you give them here, the less necessary it is to re-socialize them when they leave.” Aranjuez Prison, Spain: The phrase “family-friendly prison” is not spoken often, but that’s exactly what Aranjuez Prison in Spain has become. If either one or both parents are sent to this prison, the inmate has the option of having the family move into the 36-unit prison along with the parent(s). Children up to three years old can stay, at which point they have to stay with relatives on the outside. “It’s all child-oriented. It’s clean, they give you the best milk for the child, the doctor comes twice a week and the rooms are beautiful,” said Ramona Montoya, a woman serving an 11year sentence for drug trafficking.
FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2015
THEPHUKETNEWS.COM
Run record broken by 95-year-old
Indian jail told to install cable for World Cup AU T HOR IT I ES AT A prison in cricket-mad India were busy installing cable television last week after a judge said they had to ensure inmates can watch the ongoing World Cup. “Prisoners need recreation for a healthy mind,” Judge A. K. Goswami said last Wednesday (March 4) as he ordered bosses at the central prison in the city of Guwahati to install cable
TV within five days. An official at the jail in the main city of the northeastern state of Assam said installation work had already begun. Seven prisoners, including a former head of a local tribal council, had filed a petition before the city’s high court asking permission to watch the ongoing World Cup cricket matches. “Watching television for
news, sports and entertainment is a fundamental right within the purview of the Constitution of India,” said the petition. W hile the state-r un Doordarshan channel is screening India’s matches, the vast majority of the games being played in Australia and New Zealand are only available to subscribers of the Star TV cable network. AFP
HE’S NO USAIN BOLT, BUT he does hold the new British record of running 200 metres in 55.48 second. And he’s 95 years old. Dr Charles Eugster, who broke the indoor running record at the British Masters Championships at Lee Valley last Saturday (March 7), celebrated his record with a nap back at his hotel room. He said: “It proves you can set challenges and goals at any age and achieve them.” In addition, Eugster also holds the 100m and 200m British Masters outdoor record, and the over 95 60m record in 15.32 seconds. “He only started running competitively last year and he has broken all these records,” said his coach Sylvia Gattiker.
Badger shuts down luxury Stockholm hotel A LUXURY HOTEL IN central Stockholm came under siege early last Friday (March 6) by an ill-tempered badger which refused to allow any guests in or out, forcing police to intervene. “A crazy or stressed-out badger is preventing the staff and clients at a major hotel from leaving their cars, and from picking up their bags,” the Swedish capital’s police website said.
The Radisson Blu badger crisis began at around 5am and lasted some 40 minutes, when the police decided to take action. “The stressed animal was refusing to leave the place. “So the police called in the local wildlife services to settle the problem,” the police statement said. It remains unclear why the badger was angry. AFP thephuketnews