By Ashley Garst, C1 Staff
With the 2013 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records on the horizon, we here at Corrections1 started scratching our heads about what kind of records there might be for our field. Here are the top 10 that caught our eye:
1. First execution by electric chair
The first person to ever be executed by electric chair was a U.S. inmate named William Kemmler. Convicted for murdering his lover with an axe in 1888, Kemmler was sentenced to death and executed on August 6, 1890 in Auburn Prison, New York.
2. First use of fingerprint evidence from a post mortem in a criminal conviction
The first time that fingerprint evidence taken from a cadaver and used in court was in 1978. Police used black magnetic powder to lift fingerprints from the left ankle of a deceased female in North Miami Beach, Fla. The print was matched to those of a known suspect, Stephen William Beattie, who was found guilty on the basis of the fingerprint evidence and sentenced to three consecutive death sentences on February 1, 1979. Beattie committed suicide in prison whilst awaiting the death penalty.
3. Longest prison escape
I’m thinking of a number, and it happens to coincide with the longest prison escape ever recorded. Leonard T. Fristoe escaped from the Nevada State prison on December 15, 1923. He continued to enjoy nearly 46 years of freedom until his son turned him in on November 15, 1969. Fristoe’s original crime? He killed two sheriff’s deputies in 1920.
4. First dog to detect mobile phones
A 15-month-old UK sniffer dog named Murphy was the first to be trained and used solely for the purpose of identifying illegal mobile phones in jail cells. Murphy was trained by his handler to detect a specific scent emitted by phones, differentiate between prison officer’s and prisoner’s phones, and even locate them in hidden wall cavities or wrapped in plastic bags.
5. Largest mass wedding ceremony in a prison system
How’d you like to tie the knot in an orange jumpsuit? 120 inmates serving time in Carandiru prison, Brazil, did just that in one mass ceremony on June 14, 2000.
6. Largest prison system
While the U.S. enjoys the title of most incarcerations, only one state can hold the bragging rights to the biggest prison system. And that state is California, which holds approximately 144,000 inmates in its jails and prisons as of June 2011. The number is actually down from a previous record of 162,500 in 2006.
7. Longest prison sentence for playing a video game
In September 2002, the UK’s Faiz Chopdat was jailed for four months for playing Tetris on his mobile phone while on a flight home, “endangering the safety of an aircraft.” Cabin staff warned Chopdat twice to turn off the game and he was arrested on touching down in Manchester, UK.
8. Longest-serving executioner
The longest period of office for a public executioner is 45 years (1829-1874), served by William Calcraft (1800-79). He officiated at nearly every outdoor and indoor hanging at Newgate Prison, London, UK.
9. Most ingenious drug mule
Inmates are constantly coming up with new ways to smuggle things in and out of jail, but this one might take the cake. In 2011, Columbian drug dealers attempted to smuggle marijuana into jail using a carrier pigeon. Unfortunately for the inmates, the package, weighing at 1.6 oz., proved to be too much for the jailbird and police found it flapping on the ground near the prison.
10. Oldest convicted bank robber
The title of world’s oldest convicted bank robber belongs to J.L. Hunter Rountree, who robbed a bank at the ripe old age of 92 in 2003. After handing a bank clerk an envelope labeled “Robbery,” the clerk asked him twice if he was joking. Apparently he said no, and the clerk gave up $1,999. Rountree must have thought he made a clean get away, but another employee noted the car’s license plate number. He was pulled over by police and arrested about 30 minutes later, only 20 miles away from the scene of the crime.