A man in jail once ran for U.S. President.... and got over 900,000 votes?! Eugene Debs was in the Atlanta Penitentiary, serving a 10-year term for violating the Espionage Act when he ran for President on a 3rd party ticket in 1920. Almost 1 million people voted for him. Debs was in prison for actively opposing U.S. entry into World War I.