That's called concurrent sentencing in the US, sentences served at same time. It's usually done for minor crimes. Most crimes get consecutive sentencing where sentences are done one after another.

People get insane amounts of life sentences because many places still define life as 20-25 years, which with good time and parole can get pretty low. With multiple life sentences the judge insures that the convict stays in prison for life.

What good will your window do against a chainsaw?

To quote my Criminal Justice Professor "Thankfully most criminals are idiots, and those who aren't idiots are usually whitecollared."

Clinton was under oath, I don't think the RIAA was.

All these netbooks are stronger than my current desktop (1GHz processor, 20 GB HDD (6.6 GB free), 247.6 MiB of memory). My next computer will probably be a netbook, I'll keep my monitor and mouse (actually a small laptop mouse because I prefer the smaller size) for when I'm not moving around.

My dumb antennae idea wouldn't stop phones calls, they would just listen for signals on the right frequency then locate them (not actual cell towers). If they originated inside the prison then the guards could grab them.

1 crooked/threatened guard gives the inmate the phone. You would need a prison administration wide conspiracy to stop every guard from taking the phone. A bigger problem would be the guards barely making over minimal wage just not caring enough to enforce what they might seem as a pointless rule.

I was under the impression that prisons currently have the right to listen to phone calls/visits that don't involve lawyers, most courts would extend it to illegal phone calls.

How would the outside phones respond to being ignored by the towers if they are the strongest? It also takes time to triangulate (have to let the towers compare data/timing, calculate the distances from the three towers ...)

I would love to hear this "Please wait while we triangulate your position so we can determine whether or not to block your call and confiscate your phone."

Sorry half my post got lost (mea culpa).

It'd be better to just sit up dumb antennae (3) that detect the phone's signal (I believe their are only a couple frequencies used by cellphones) and locates it so the guards can go confiscate/discipline the innmate.

You'd only need 1 in order to route all calls, 3 (along the outer fence line) to locate the phones. Not including problems with different carriers. Of course anyone who lives by the prison will be pissed when their phone gets routed.

<sarcasm>To paraphrase the RIAA, "Fuck fair use."</sarcasm>

It'll stand up a little better than the patient would.

Or they refuse to pay. If some country did that to a web company I owned I would just laugh at them.