RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. In China, inventing stuff is a very good way of spending time in jail. That's because a law allows certain prison terms to be commuted for convicts who come up with serious technical innovations, which The Beijing Youth Daily reports has led to a brisk business in getting-out-of-jail patents. For as little as $1,100, wealthier inmates are buying patents, leading one Weibo-it (ph) to dub prisons China's Nobel Prize centers. It's MORNING EDITION.