15 Times Imprisonment Gave Birth to Awesome Ideas

Arguably the worst thing about prison, aside from the shitty food, potential violence, and general systemic inequality, is the loss of control. There’s always someone telling you where to go, what to do, who to do it with, and what role you’ll be playing in Shakespeare on the Block that season. While at home, you can do anything you can find a YouTube tutorial for, it’s very hard to learn, say, ballroom dancing in prison. The guards do not like it when you cut in – not since the incident.

That’s why it’s all the more impressive when people do manage major accomplishments on the inside. Through sheer human perseverance (and a LOT of “me” time), they earn degrees, get buff, master the shiv shave, you name it. The truly special have even created masterpieces, cured diseases, and built entire business empires, all from a cramped and probably deeply unpleasant-smelling cell.