Ross D. Franklin / AP

The cell of convicted killer Jodi Arias at the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Estrella Jail, on May 16, 2013, in Phoenix. Arias was convicted of first-degree murder in the gruesome killing of her one-time boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in their suburban Phoenix home.

Ross D. Franklin / AP

Sheriff Joe Arpaio explains a typical meal served to convicted killer Jodi Arias and all the other inmates at the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office Estrella Jail, during a news conference, on May 16, 2013, in Phoenix.

Jodi Arias has spent the past four years in cell B403 of the Estrella Jail in Phoenix. The room is located in the maximum security section of the jail, offering only the basic necessities – including a toilet - for 23 hours a day. She has been able to maintain an active presence on Twitter because when she speaks to friends on the phone, she will ask them to tweet on her behalf.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio showed her cell and its belongings to reporters, and said “I’m not going to ask her for her permission, I run this hotel. She doesn’t."

Arias receives one “sack lunch” and one “hot meal” each day, totaling 2600 calories.

See more in the video below.

Rob Schumacher /Arizona Republic via AP

Jodi Arias looks at the family of Travis Alexander as the jury arrives on May 15, 2013, during the sentencing phase of her trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix.

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

Prisoners in their cell at Badam Bagh, Afghanistan's central women's prison, in Kabul. A total of 202 women are imprisoned in the six-year-old jail, the majority of them in connection to so-called "moral" crimes.

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

A prisoner with her child.

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

Mariam, who shot the man who raped her, has spent the past three months in Badam Bagh prison without any idea of why she was imprisoned, what charges she faces or when she can leave.

Lost and alone in a strange city Mariam called the only person she knew, her husband's cousin. She had left her home in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province, fleeing her husband's relentless and increasingly vicious beatings. The man promised to help, but too busy to come himself he sent a friend who took her to a house, held a gun to her head and raped her.

Finished with her he settled in front of a TV set, the gun on a table by his side. Choosing her moment, Mariam picked up the gun, shot her assailant in the head and turned the gun on herself.

"Three days later I woke up in the hospital," she said, shyly removing a scarf from her head to reveal a partially shaved head and a long jagged scar that ran almost the length of her head where the bullet grazed her scalp.

From the hospital Mariam was sent to a police station and from there to Badam Bagh, Afghanistan's central women's prison, where she told her story to The Associated Press. For the past three months Mariam has been waiting to find out what charges she faces.

Mariam is one of 202 women living in the six-year-old jail. The majority are serving sentences of up to seven years for leaving their husbands, refusing to accept a marriage arranged by their parents, or choosing to leave their parents' home with a man of their choice — all so-called "moral" crimes, says the prison's director general Zaref Jan Naebi. Read the full story.

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

Adia, 27, left her husband, a drug addict, seeking shelter with her parents. They told her to go home to her husband, who had followed her demanding she return. She went to court to seek help but instead they sentenced her to six years in prison. Seven months pregnant, Adia will have her baby in jail.

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

A prisoner hanging up laundry on a small patch of open space surrounded by a razor-topped fence.

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

A prisoner outside her cell.

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

Prisoner Nuria with her infant son. "When I went to court for the divorce, instead of giving me a divorce, they charged me with running away," Nuria said. The man she wanted to marry was also charged and is now serving time in Afghanistan's notorious Pul-e-Charkhi prison.

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

Children walking through the prison. 62 children live with their imprisoned mothers in the jail.

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

Fauzia is the oldest woman in the jail and has already served seven years. She will serve a 17 year sentence for killing her husband and her daughter-in-law. "I was in one room. I came into the next room and they were there having sexual relations. I found a big knife and killed them both," she said in a voice empty of emotion.

Editor's note: Pictures taken on March 28, 2013 and made available to NBC News today.

Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

Rahmat Gul / AP

More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

Launch slideshow

Related:

Newlywed Afghan beheaded for her refusal to become prostitute

Afghanistan's female powerhouses: a rapper, a colonel and 'mother' to hundreds

Afghan artists use graffiti to depict violence and injustice of women's lives

John Moore / Getty Images

Immigrant inmates line up for breakfast. Striped uniforms and pink undergarments are standard issue at the facility.

John Moore / Getty Images

An immigrant inmate exercises while another sits on his bunk at the Maricopa County Tent City jail on March 11, 2013. Striped uniforms and pink undergarments are standard issue at the facility.

John Moore / Getty Images

A deputy leads a tour group at the Maricopa County Tent City jail.

The tent jail, run by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, houses undocumented immigrants who are serving up to one year after being convicted of crime in the county. Many of the immigrants have lived in the U.S. for years, often with families. Most will be deported to Mexico after serving their sentences.

Sheriff Arpaio has come under scrutiny for his record on immigration enforcement, including lawsuits accusing him of civil rights violations and racial profiling. He recently won his sixth four-year term as sheriff.

John Moore / Getty Images

An immigrant inmate reads on his bunk at the Maricopa County Tent City jail on March 11, 2013 in Phoenix, Arizona.

John Moore / Getty Images

Immigrant inmates eat breakfast at the Maricopa County Tent City jail.

John Moore / Getty Images

A minister leads immigrant inmates during a Protestant church service at the Maricopa County Tent City jail.

AFP - Getty Images

A mobile phone and a hands-free kit are seen in a 58 year old Sri Lankan prisoner's rectum in an X-ray image received by AFP on Feb. 8, 2013.

Published at 9:04 a.m. ET: A Sri Lankan prisoner who tried to hide his cellphone during a search of his cell was caught out when guards heard a ring tone emanating from his rear end, according to a hospital official.

The 58-year-old convict had to be admitted to the national hospital in Colombo where doctors later retrieved the handset, together with an accompanying hands-free kit, from his rectum. -- Agence France-Presse

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Mike Groll / AP

Adam Bloss of Rochester, N.Y., an inmate at the Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility, cuts ice blocks from Lake Flower to be used in the construction of the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival ice palace on Jan. 28, in Saranac Lake, N.Y.

Mike Groll / AP

Inmates from the Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility line up before helping construct the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival ice palace on Jan. 28, in Saranac Lake, N.Y.

By Michael Hill, The Associated Press

It's a far cry from breaking rocks in the hot sun on a chain gang. In New York's Adirondack Mountains, inmates break ice on a frozen lake to make a giant winter palace.

A work crew from an area "shock" prison camp once again this year helped local volunteers create this mountain village's lakeside ice palace — the shimmering centerpiece of the annual Saranac Lake Winter Carnival, starting Friday.

Under snowy skies this week, inmates marched onto the frozen lake in military formation in winter-weight prison greens and hard hats. Working alongside the volunteers, they were handed poles to break off blocks or head-high saws to cut through the ice. Others in the boot camp-style incarceration program were dispatched to the tall walls of the palace with buckets of slush to fit between blocks like mortar.

"Sir, yes sir! This is an experience of a lifetime, sir," said inmate Patrick O'Donnell. The 24-year-old from Long Island, like all inmates at Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility, answers questions like a new military recruit.

"Sir, where I live there's not much snow, so to see something like this is an experience, sir."

Moriah, about 45 miles from Saranac Lake through twisting mountain roads, houses a six-month shock program designed to build character and self-esteem.

Prisoners convicted of nonviolent offenses like burglary, forgery or drug sales can shave months or years off their sentences by successfully completing a shock program — but it's tough. Inmates wake up at 5:30 a.m. for intense days of exercise, academics and substance abuse treatment.

Continue reading.

Mike Groll / AP

Volunteer Jeff Branch, top, and inmates from the Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility, work on the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival ice palace on Jan. 28, in Saranac Lake, N.Y.

Mike Groll / AP

Inmates from the Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility, wearing green, work with volunteers breaking off ice blocks from Lake Flower that will be used to construct the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival ice palace on Jan. 28, in Saranac Lake, N.Y.

Mike Groll / AP

Naquan Shideo from the Brooklyn borough of New York, an inmate at the Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility, uses slush water to seal ice blocks while helping construct the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival ice palace on Jan. 28, in Saranac Lake, N.Y.

Mike Groll / AP

Inmates from the Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility, wearing green, work with volunteers breaking off ice blocks from Lake Flower that will be used to construct the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival ice palace on Jan. 28, in Saranac Lake, N.Y.

Mike Groll / AP

An inmate from the Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility cuts ice blocks from Lake Flower that will be used to construct the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival ice palace on Jan. 28, in Saranac Lake, N.Y.

Related links:

• Puppy training: Future service dogs head to maximum-security prison
• New York's shock camps claim to keep inmates out of prison
• A rare look inside San Quentin state prison
• America's only all-female chain gang toils in Phoenix heat

Penitentiary System Of Alagoas / AFP - Getty Images

A penitentiary agent holds a cat with a package of tools and a mobile phone taped to its body at Luiz de Oliveira Souza prison in Arapiraca, Alagoas, Brazil. Brazilian authorities captured the cat, which was entering the prison with a saw, bits for hand drills, a mobile phone, batteries and a charger. The cat belonged to the prisoners and was frequently taken by relatives to their homes, returning to the prison on its own.

Alagoas state prisons spokeswoman Cinthya Moreno says that the cat was caught New Year's Eve at the medium-security prison in the city of Arapiraca.

The O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported Saturday that all of the prison's 263 inmates are suspects in the smuggling attempt, though it says a prison spokesman said, "It will be hard to discover who is responsible since the cat does not speak."

-- Reported by the Associated Press

AP

Items retrieved from the cat are displayed by authorities.

Patrick Semansky / AP

Inmate John Barba works with Dill, a veteran assistance dog in training, at Western Correctional Institution in Cresaptown, Md. Dill is one of three dogs assigned since September to inmates at the maximum-security prison for basic training as service dogs for disabled military veterans.

The Associated Press reports from Cresaptown, Md. — Hazard Wilson's new cellmate is a hairy bundle of energy whose playful zeal can't be contained by steel doors: a five-month-old golden retriever. Yardley is one of three canines assigned since September to inmates at a maximum-security prison in western Maryland for training as service dogs for disabled military veterans.

The number of programs nationwide using inmates to train service dogs is growing, but the program at Western Correctional Institute might be the first to use incarcerated veterans to train dogs for other veterans.

Patrick Semansky / AP

Dill looks on as inmate John Barba walks away after commanding him to sit and stay. The inmates, who are also veterans, are among the state's first prisoners to join a national trend of training service dogs in correctional institutions.

Professional trainers say prison-raised dogs tend to do better than those raised traditionally in foster homes, because puppies respond well to consistency and rigid schedules. That's just what they get in prison.

Patrick Semansky / AP

John Barba looks at a calendar as he sits in the 6-by-9-foot cell that he shares with Dill, a veteran assistance dog in training.

Wilson, a former military police officer honorably discharged in 1982, said he's proud to help another veteran.

"I feel as though they don't get what they deserve when they come home," he said. "This is a part of why I do what I do." Read the full story.

Editor's note: Images taken on Nov. 26, 2012 and made available to NBC News today.

Patrick Semansky / AP

John Barba walks out of his cell with Dill. Professional trainers say prison-raised dogs tend to graduate sooner and at higher rates than those raised traditionally in foster homes because puppies respond well to the consistency and rigid schedules of prison life.

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Jose Cabezas / AFP - Getty Images

Inmates stand by a door at La Esperaza Jail in San Salvador.

Jose Cabezas / AFP - Getty Images

Inmates walk out of their cells after the morning counting at La Esperaza.

La Esperanza, the largest jail in El Salvador, was designed to hold 800 inmates but currently holds 4700 prisoners.  AFP-Getty Images photographer, Jose Cabezas, shot these images in the prison on Nov. 23.

Jose Cabezas / AFP - Getty Images

Inmates walk in line at La Esperaza Jail in San Salvador.

Jose Cabezas / AFP - Getty Images

Inmates participate in a religious service at La Esperaza Jail.

Jose Cabezas / AFP - Getty Images

An inmate carries tortillas for breakfast at La Esperaza Jail.

Jose Cabezas / AFP - Getty Images

Inmates wash themselves at La Esperaza Jail in San Salvador.

Jose Cabezas / AFP - Getty Images

Handcuffs hang from a wire netting at La Esperaza Jail in San Salvador.

Dai Kurokawa / EPA

An inmate sits in his cell in Rumbek Central Prison in Rumbek, South Sudan, Oct. 25, 2012.

Dai Kurokawa / EPA

A female inmate looks out the prison door at Juba Central Prison in Juba, South Sudan, Oct. 23.

European Pressphoto Agency reports — Built in 1948 by the British colonial government, Rumbek Central Prison houses some 600 prisoners who live in overcrowded cells with virtually no access to basic health care, sanitation, as well as adequate food and nutrition.

Arbitrary detention is rife in South Sudan, says a 2012 report by Human Rights Watch. Several inmates interviewed, some of them on death row, said they had no access to lawyers or any form of legal aid. But it is merely just one of several human rights laws being broken at the prisons in South Sudan. Conditions in the country's prisons 'clearly do not comply with international or domestic law and standards on prisoners' welfare', the report continues. Those who are accused of or convicted of murder are often shackled for extended periods of time, if not permanently. And corporal punishment is often used to 'discipline' inmates such as being beaten with a stick or whip for fighting or disobeying prison officers.

Smile Tombek, 33, an inmate in Juba Central Prison, says he was sentenced to 14 years in jail without a trial along with his three sisters, for killing a man, but no one told them who is accused of the killing. 'Someone was murdered and our whole family was accused so we were arrested, and then taken directly to this prison from the police station. Since then, I have never had a chance to talk to anyone, like a lawyer'.

The prison director at the Rumbek Central Prison says that he acknowledges the poor conditions at his prison but there have been some improvements over the past year, although the government needs more funding. South Sudan's economy has been seriously damaged following the halting of its oil production after a border dispute with its northern neighbor Sudan. The world's newest nation still has a lot of work to do for its citizens - whether they are guilty of a crime or not.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Text and images made available to NBC News on Nov. 21

Dai Kurokawa / EPA

Shackled inmates sit in the yard in Rumbek Central Prison in Rumbek, South Sudan, Oct. 24.

Dai Kurokawa / EPA

Inmates line up bowls of food for dinner in Rumbek Central Prison in Rumbek, South Sudan, Oct. 25.

Dai Kurokawa / EPA

An elderly inmate leans against a cross at a yard inside the Rumbek Central Prison in Rumbek, South Sudan, Oct. 25.

Dai Kurokawa / EPA

Shackled inmates wash their hands and feet at a yard in Rumbek Central Prison in Rumbek, South Sudan, Oct. 24.

Dai Kurokawa / EPA

Shackled inmates play cards in Rumbek Central Prison in Rumbek, South Sudan, Oct. 25.

Dai Kurokawa / EPA

A female inmate, said to be mentally ill, lies down in her cell, soiled with her own urine and feces, in Juba Central Prison in Juba, South Sudan, Oct. 23.

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Reuters

Rioting prisoners fire weapons and cheer from a roof during clashes with Sri Lanka's Special Task Force at Welikada prison in Colombo, Nov. 9, 2012.

Reuters

Prison officers carry an injured colleague during clashes at Welikada prison in Colombo, Nov. 9.

Reuters reports — Ten people were killed in a gunfight at Sri Lanka's biggest jail on Friday that started when police conducting a routine search came under fire from inmates, officials and police said.

Witnesses said they saw police shooting towards the prison where armed inmates were on the roof. Hospital officials in Colombo who gave the death toll were not able to say if the victims were police or prisoners.

See more images related to Sri Lanka on PhotoBlog

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Gemunu Amarasinghe / AP

Sri Lankan inmates shout from a roof of a prison as guards carry an injured colleague, foreground, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Nov. 9.

Gemunu Amarasinghe / AP

Soldiers arrive outside a prison in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Nov 9.

Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images

A female inmate peers out through the grills of a metallic prison gate at Juba's central prison in South Sudan.

Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images

An inmate standd astride an open waste water gulley with shackles around his ankles at the prison yard of Rumbek's central prison in South Sudan.

Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images

Prison wardens carry out an inspection of the kitchens at Juba's central prison in South Sudan.

GRAPHIC WARNING: Contains images which some viewers may find disturbing.

In Juba, the ramshackle capital of South Sudan, the world's newest nation, over 100 people await execution in filthy and crowded prisons. Human rights activists say conditions break basic freedoms, with many inmates never having even seen a lawyer, or even knowing their charges.

In June, Human Rights Watch issued a report that found that prisoners in South Sudan were often detained arbitrarily, often not charged with crimes and frequently not provided with lawyers for their defense. The report said some prisoners were detained for up to five years without trial. Continue reading AP article.

Impoverished South Sudan was left in ruins after decades of war with Sudan before separating in 2011 after a landslide independence referendum. But like so much in the country, the legal system was left in tatters, with sometimes conflicting, overlapping systems of justice.

All images captured Oct. 23-26 by AFP - Getty Images photographer Tony Karumba, but made available to NBC News today. 

Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images

Inmates get ready to dish out food to other prisoners for their evening meal at Rumbek's central prison in South Sudan

Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images

Inmates, who are shackled together at the ankles, bathe at a water point at Rumbek's central prison in South Sudan.

- / AFP - Getty Images

A mentally ill inmate at Juba's central prison in South Sudan is locked-up in solitary confinement.

• Read UN's program for South Sudan
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