Almost half of all convicts are now serving sentences of ten years or more, compared with under 2% in 1995.

ECONOMIST: The great scourges

For the entire time I never once spent the night in the colony, where all the convicts were supposed to serve their sentence.

FORBES: Corruption, Chaos, and Decay in the "Most Humane Prisons in the World" - Or, Russia's Prison System is Still a Real Mess

In the first nine months of fiscal 2010, federal judges cited Booker to sentence 13.4% of all federal convicts to below guideline terms.

FORBES: Federal Judges Go Easy On Tax Cheats, Pornographers And Prostitutes

Legally, he can do this because convicts in Italy do not usually serve short prison sentences until all their appeals have been heard, and anyway he enjoys parliamentary immunity.

ECONOMIST: The Berlusconi problem