At 99, Annie Had One Unusual Dream: She Wanted to Be Arrested

Most people spend their lives doing everything they can to avoid being arrested.

For Annie, a 99-year-old woman from the Netherlands, the idea was completely different.

Getting arrested was something she actually wanted to experience.

It was one of the unusual items on her bucket list — not because she had committed a crime, not because she wanted to cause trouble, and certainly not because she wanted to spend a long time behind bars.

She was simply curious.

After nearly a century of life without getting into trouble with the law, Annie wanted to know what it felt like to be handcuffed, taken to a police station and briefly placed inside a police cell.

And in February 2017, police in Nijmegen-Zuid decided to help her find out.

The result was an extraordinary few minutes that left Annie smiling behind the bars of a police cell — and produced photographs that quickly attracted attention far beyond the Netherlands.

A Very Unusual Item on a Bucket List

A bucket list is usually filled with experiences people hope to have before they die.

For some, that might mean visiting a country they have never seen. For others, it could be learning something new, meeting a famous person, riding in a hot-air balloon or simply doing something they have always been too afraid to try.

Annie's wish was considerably more unusual.

She wanted to experience a police cell from the inside.

According to reports published at the time by The Independent, ITV News, Sky News and other international outlets, Annie had never been in trouble with the law. Her surname was not publicly released, and the Dutch police identified her simply by her first name.

That made her request even more curious.

There was no criminal history behind it. There was no court case. There was no serious incident that had led police to her door.

Instead, it appears to have been driven almost entirely by curiosity.

Annie had lived for 99 years without experiencing something that most people would regard as an unpleasant or frightening encounter: being handcuffed and sitting inside a police cell.

For her, however, the experience represented something she had always wondered about.

What does it actually feel like?

What does a police cell look like from the inside?

What would it be like to sit behind the door rather than walk past it?

At an age when many people might become increasingly focused on routine and familiar surroundings, Annie apparently still had room on her list for one more unusual adventure.

And her family decided to help make it happen.

How the Idea Reached the Police

The unusual request came to the attention of police in Nijmegen-Zuid through Annie's niece.

Reports from the time explained that Annie's niece visited the police station to report a crime and, during that interaction, the unusual bucket-list wish came up.

Rather than dismissing it as an odd request, an officer decided to see whether something could be arranged.

That decision eventually turned an ordinary visit to a police station into one of the most memorable experiences of Annie's 99th year.

Police did not simply pretend the wish had never been mentioned.

Instead, they made an exception.

The police later explained that they do not normally allow members of the public to enter a police cell simply for the experience. Annie's case was different because the purpose was not punishment or detention. It was to give an elderly woman the chance to cross an unusual item off her bucket list.

The entire experience was deliberately brief.

She was taken to the station, placed in handcuffs and allowed to sit inside a cell for only a few minutes.

There was no criminal charge waiting for her.

There was no prosecution.

There was no sentence.

It was, essentially, a carefully arranged experience that gave Annie a small taste of something she had always wondered about.

And judging from the photographs, she enjoyed every second.

The Happiest “Prisoner” in the Netherlands

The photographs taken that day became the most memorable part of the story.

Instead of looking frightened or uncomfortable, Annie appeared delighted.

She could be seen sitting inside the cell with a huge smile on her face. In another image, she appeared to be enjoying the moment as officers placed handcuffs around her wrists.

The contrast was almost comical.

Police cells are normally associated with serious situations: arrests, investigations, criminal accusations and people who would much rather be somewhere else.

Annie turned the setting into something completely different.