The Phantom Zone was invented on the Planet Krypton as a way to get rid of the most heinous criminals and monsters. Basically, a trip to The Phantom Zone removes you from conventional reality and separates you from all constraints of the physical world, turning you, essentially, into a ghost. Prisoners do not need to eat or sleep and they will not age or die. Therefore, it is theoretically possible to imprison somebody in the Phantom Zone for all eternity. Once you leave The Zone, youll get your physical form back, but until then, your punishment is simply to observe the universe going by, being able to affect it in no tangible way. The debate rages on as to overcrowding in our prisons. Some say that they resent paying for room and board for societys various villains, whilst others accept it as being a part of life. I think we can all agree that the death penalty has no place in this day and age (largely because its f*cking stupid to murder someone as a punishment for murdering someone). However, if we took our cue from Supermans home planet, we could get rid of people we dont like, but still maintain the moral high ground, whilst not paying a penny for the privilege. The Phantom Zone was created by Robert Bernstein and George Papp in 1961 and is currently playing a major part in the story Superman: Doomed.