Where Do You Want Your Porridge? Quiz

Answer: Black Dolphin

Black Dolphin, on the border with Kazakhstan, is one of the oldest prisons in Russia and gained notoriety in 2000 when it began taking in criminals serving life that other prisons felt unable to accept, such as child molesters, cannibals and serial killers.

It houses approximately 700 inmates, who between them are estimated to have killed over 3,500 people and all are under constant video surveillance. Prison rules dictate that inmates are only allowed to use their bed for sleeping, and strict punishments are given out if one is caught sitting or leaning on the bed during non sleeping hours.

Whenever a prisoner is moved to another area of the prison, they are blindfolded and forced to walk bent double at the waist, in order to make looking at surroundings, and therefore formulating a map impossible. One of the prison's most notorious inmates is Vladimir Nikolayev, convicted of murder, cannibalism and selling human flesh to unsuspecting buyers, saying it was kangaroo meat.

Answer: Rikers Island

In 1965, Rikers Island was at the forefront of "art as therapy" and accordingly invited Dali to the prison. Unfortunately, he became ill on the day he was scheduled to visit, and instead donated a drawing of Christ on the cross, to be hung in the dining hall.

In 1985, with the sketch valued at $175,000, it was moved to a more secure area in the jail entryway, which is staffed 24 hours a day. However, despite the constant staffing of prison guards, the drawing was stolen in 2003, by which time its value was over half a million dollars. Later that same year, prison officer Greg Sokol turned himself in and named his co-conspirators, resulting in a trial at which Sokol, fellow officer Tim Pina and assistant deputy warden Mitchell Hochhauser eventually pleaded guilty, receiving sentences of three years probation, five years probation and three years in prison respectively.

As for the Dali drawing, it was never recovered and is believed to have been destroyed by the gang in an attempt to hide the evidence.

Answer: Maze

Sands was a member of terrorist organisation the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland, who was imprisoned for 14 years in 1977 for possession of a handgun, following the bombing of businesses in Dunmurry. While in prison, he was made leader of the Provisional IRA prisoners in the Maze and in 1980 he, along with six other men, began to refuse food until they were given political status.

This was denied for 53 days, until Margaret Thatcher's government appeared to give in to the striker's demands, but as it became clear the demands had not been met, Sands started a hunger strike again on March 1st 1981.

Whilst on strike, a by-election was held in Fermanagh and South Tyrone, which Sands won, thereby winning a seat in the House of Commons. In theory, his new status allowing him better access to lobby for his demands, but they were still not met and he died on May 5th.

Answer: San Quentin

In the audience at the Johnny Cash gig was a young inmate by the name of Merle Haggard, who credits that concert as showing him what was possible and putting him on the straight and narrow. Cash played the prison again in 1969, an event which was recorded and released that same year as "Johnny Cash At San Quentin". B.B. King's gig was also released as an album as was his 1971 concert from Chicago's Cook County Jail and his 1973 performance at New York's Sing Sing prison with Joan Baez was released as a movie entitled "Sing Sing Thanksgiving" (1974), as well as being hailed by King as the best performance of his life. Metallica's prison gig was the live debut for bass player Robert Trujillo who replaced Jason Newsted.

The band played favourites such as "Master Of Puppets" (1986), "One" (1989) and "Enter Sandman" (1991) in their ten song set and also donated $10,000 towards the San Quentin Giants baseball field.

Answer: Devil's Island

Devil's Island in French Guiana was a penal colony which, until it closed in 1953 achieved infamy for the harsh treatment of its inmates, but whether Henri Charriere, whose life was immortalised in the 1969 book and 1973 film "Papillon", ever served time there is open to debate. Certainly Charriere, who was a known petty criminal insisted that he did, as part of a sentence for murder and furthermore he basked in the fame that his escape and his book about prison life brought him, but penal colony records released by French authorities show that Charriere was never imprisoned there and it is believed that his Devil's Island experiences were actually embellishments of his time in other prisons interwoven with others inmate's stories. Kaena Point was a women's penal colony in the Kingdom of Hawaii, Gorgona Point was a Colombian penal colony that closed in 1984 and the Andaman Islands were a British penal colony in colonial India.

Answer: Alcatraz

"Creepy" Karpis served a total of 26 years at Alcatraz, before being transferred to McNeil Island in 1962 as Alcatraz prepared for closure. He served seven years at McNeil, during which time he taught a young Charles Manson how to play guitar, before being paroled and deported back to his native Canada.

Some of the most infamous criminals in American history spent time at Alcatraz, including Al Capone and "Machine Gun" Kelly and of the 36 potential escapees, 23 were apprehended alive, six were shot during their escape, two drowned and five are missing, presumed drowned after attempting to cross the 1.25 miles (2.01 km) treacherous stretch of San Francisco Bay which separates Alcatraz from the mainland.

Answer: Port Arthur

Port Arthur transformed from timber station to penal colony in what is now Tasmania in 1833 and cruelty and hardship were the order of the day. Whereas in most British prisons of the era, food was a staple, at Port Arthur, food was used as a reward and had to be earned. Also inmates were required to wear hoods and remain silent, resulting in so many cases of mental illness brought on by the constant silence and lack of light, that an asylum had to be built next to the prison. Even the guards weren't immune to the harsh conditions, kept on rations so strict that they once shot a kangaroo near the prison, seeing it as extra meat, and were amazed to find an escapee prisoner wearing a kangaroo hide. Uncle Tobys is an Australian brand of porridge, as in the oaty breakfast, not the prison time.

Answer: Hanoi Hilton

Hao Lo had facilities to house 600 inmates but by 1954 had 2,000 inmates in conditions which were inhuman to say the least. By the time the first American PoW, Everett Alvarez Jr was sent there in 1964, the conditions were even worse. Unsanitary conditions, solitary confinement, extremely poor food, prolonged beatings and torture were a part of daily life for inmates, who included much respected U.S. senator John McCain, even though North Vietnam was a signatory to the Geneva Convention covering prisoner's treatment.

When the Hilton hotel chain opened a hotel in Hanoi in 1999, they were very careful to name it Hilton Hanoi Opera, rather than have the city name first.

Answer: The Count Of Monte Cristo

In reality, nobody is known to have ever escaped from Chateau d'If, but in Alexander Dumas' famous book, Edmond Dantes manages this feat after 14 years of imprisonment. The prison is now open to the public and is very interesting to visit, showing how prisoners were treated and incarcerated according to wealth.

The poorer inmates were crammed, many to a cell in windowless underground dungeons while those with more disposable income were contained above ground, often in a cell with a window and a fireplace.

Answer: Robben Island

The former inmates of Robben Island include Nelson Mandela, Kgalema Motlanthe and Jacob Zuma all of whom became President of South Africa and who between them served almost 15 years at the country's helm and collectively served 38 years on Robben Island at the height of the country's apartheid era.