truTV: Not Reality. Actuality.

Scott Masters, 41, faced a potential 30-year sentence for shoplifting a doughnut in a Farmington, Mo., convenience store in September because, as he exited the store, he pushed a worker aside. Prosecutors said that "assault" made the crime a "strong-arm robbery" (but in December, a judge decided 90 days in jail was more appropriate).

The Poor Dear! A federal magistrate in Tampa, Fla., ordered a doctor's appointment in October for the incarcerated Brian Wilcox, who is being detained on several child pornography charges, after he complained that he was suffering from a series of medical problems. He said that his back hurt from a four-year-old injury; that he has problems with his eyes; that his feet and groin area are numb as if they are "asleep"; that there is a bulge on the left side of his groin; that he is worried about a mole on his nose because of his family history of cancer; that all of his remaining 16 teeth are either decaying or cracking (keeping him from eating, and he's lost 40 pounds); and that he has "severe flatulence at all times."

In September, just minutes after the court's lethal-injection case was accepted, lawyers for Michael Richard, who was scheduled to die that evening, rushed to file a stay with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeal and promised delivery by 5:20 p.m. The court clerk responded, "We close at 5"; the petition didn't make it, and Richard was executed at 8:23.

It's Good to Be a British Prisoner (continued): Britain's chief inspector of prisons, Anne Owers, included in a recent inspection report of facilities her advice that prison wardens try to instill respect for inmates by having guards knock on cell doors before entering and address prisoners by their preferred names. A guards' association spokesman said the suggestion lacked even a "modicum" of sense.

It's Good to Be a British Prisoner (cont.): Britain's chief inspector of prisons, Anne Owers, included in a recent inspection report of facilities her advice that prison wardens try to improve respect for inmates by having guards address prisoners by their preferred names and knock on cell doors before entering. A guards' association spokesman said the suggestion lacked even a "modicum" of sense.

The District of Calamity: The Washington, D.C., Department of Corrections fired three jailers in August after finding that they had locked up Virginia Grace Soto, 47, in the men's detention unit following her July arrest, despite her protests and despite a formal strip search and despite observing her in the shower. Their reasoning: A paperwork error listed Soto as a male, and they could not change that. .