The Economist wrote about a program that Romania has that the elite are exploiting to reduce prison time:

• Romania’s law used to grant reduced prison sentences if prisoners published serious academic works while there. Checks were in place to prevent abuse.
• In 2013 a loophole was introduced and now publishing pretty much any book will lead to an extra month of freedom.
• This has led a flurry of prisoners to publish multiple works, substantially reducing their jail time.
• One pop singer wrote a book about dental stem cells, while a former government minister wrote a book that consisted mostly of pictures.
• Prisoners can’t use computers, and must handwrite everything.
• In practice elites hire ghostwriters and then smuggle the written works into prison cells. The jailed then re-write the book in their own handwriting.
• Politicians – many who have seen former colleagues exploit the loophole – have little reason to push for change, knowing that the law may come in handy someday.

Read more about the agency pushing to fix the law, some of the other works that have been published by these prison scholars, and other details here.

Source: The Economist