Cash-stripped Erie County Holding Center in upstate New York is generating some capital by advertising to detainees on television sets in their holding cells. They estimate they can make about $15,000 a year selling ads to their rather, um, captive audience.

A vast number of the states in our fine union are facing deep and painful budget cuts, thanks to the ongoing not-having of money, combined with lots of spending of money that we didn't have in the recent past. Education, social welfare, health care—the entire social safety net will have to be slashed. But with a little ingenuity, we'll be able to preserve our prison-industrial complex!

A New Jersey man who was arrested with $180 worth of deodorant stuffed down his pants in a Rite-Aid store was sentenced to 15 years in jail on Tuesday. It was his 75th (!!!) arrest in 23 years. (via)

On tonight's Late Show, Domestic Diva Martha Stewart made some Superbowl treats with David Letterman. One problem: all Letterman wanted to do was bring up Stewart's stint in the slammer. She was not pleased—but she did get revenge!

Habitual texter and convicted murderer Charles Manson was caught again with a cell phone in a "highly protected area" inside the Corcoran State Prison, according to news station KCRA. Cell phones in prison are officially the hot new thing. [KCRA]

Before smuggling weed into jail inside your underwear, try vacuum sealing it first.

Indonesian singer Ariel was arrested last year under a strict anti-pornography law after a sex tape leaked of him with two women. While sentencing Ariel to 3½ years in jail today, the judge worried that "fans might imitate his behavior."

Bhutan has some of the toughest anti-smoking laws in the world, and police can now enter homes if they even smell tobacco. And last week, police arrested the first person under the new law: A Buddhist monk.

Gossipy mobster Vincent Basciano, better known as Vinny Gorgeous, is going on trial next month for murder and racketeering, but he's upset about his "cold and moist" jail cell in the terrorist wing of Manhattan's Metropolitan Correctional Center. Poor Vinny.

David House, a computer researcher from Boston, is one of few people permitted to visit accused Wikileaker Bradley Manning at a military prison in Quantico, Va. He's relayed a message from Manning: My blankets hurt.

If you're getting a Secret Service beatdown, at least do it with gusto: Career criminal Gregory Brockman wrote a jailhouse letter threatening to kill the President and eat his flesh. This has been your creative assassination plot of the day.

Organized labor in America is a pitiful shadow of its former might. There's one exception, though: prison inmates.

Cell phones are a hot commodity in America's prisons these days. Even Charles Manson was caught with one under his mattress in California's Corcoran State Prison. He's been texting people and even sang a song on one friend's voicemail. Listen!

Sentences for misdemeanors like smoking weed or sneaking onto the subway usually don't come with any jail time. They don't have to. In NYC, a huge number of misdemeanor arrestees languish in jail for weeks, unable to afford bail.

An inmate named Kristopher Allen White escaped the Haywood County jail in Tennessee last week, but was apprehended later that day. Why the mention? Because the 160-pound White slipped through a four and a half inch space between the bars.

Food crusader Mayor Michael Bloomberg has found a way to save the city around $350,000 a year — by cutting the calorie intake of Rikers Island inmates by 160 a day. And no more chocolate pudding! Or black pepper.

Cunning young criminal Colton Harris-Moore, the "Barefoot Bandit" who stole airplanes, boats and credit cards, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Seattle yesterday for "piloting an aircraft without a valid airman's certificate" and many other less fun-sounding crimes.

Have you ever thought to yourself, "Do I have any outstanding arrest warrants?" Yeah, same here. A four-day event last week in New Jersey called "Fugitive Safe Surrender" allowed minor offenders to turn themselves in. 3,901 people showed up.

Finally, a lucky break for Lindsay Lohan: At today's court appearance, the judge decided she won't go to jail. She will have to stay in rehab until January 3, 2011, though. How will the paparazzi survive that long without her?

Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant who walked off the job via inflatable slide, pleaded guilty today to two counts of criminal mischief. He will avoid jailtime by undergoing therapy and substance abuse treatment. Slater previously self-identified as an alcoholic.