Could you please tell me what this sentence means in the paragraph? Thanks a lot.
It is the last sentence of the following paragraph. (i.e. The disagreeable prospect of serving......TV stars and politicians.)
Actually I want to know the meaning of "The disagreeable prospect of serving time".

" It is this desire that lures many boys and girls into joining gangs and engaging in criminal activities. The average young criminal, according to E. P. Mulrooney, onetime police commissioner of New York, is filled with ego, and his first request after arrest is for those lurid newspapers that make him out a hero. The disagreeable prospect of serving time seems remote so long as he can gloat over his likeness sharing space with pictures of sports figures, movie and TV stars and politicians. "

Thanks for your help.

Question

Could you please tell me what this sentence means in the paragraph? Thanks a lot.
It is the last sentence of the following paragraph. (i.e. The disagreeable prospect of serving......TV stars and politicians.)
Actually I want to know the meaning of "The disagreeable prospect of serving time".

" It is this desire that lures many boys and girls into joining gangs and engaging in criminal activities. The average young criminal, according to E. P. Mulrooney, onetime police commissioner of New York, is filled with ego, and his first request after arrest is for those lurid newspapers that make him out a hero. The disagreeable prospect of serving time seems remote so long as he can gloat over his likeness sharing space with pictures of sports figures, movie and TV stars and politicians. "

Thanks for your help.

Answer

"serving time" means spending time (months or years) locked up in prison. For most people this would be a disagreeable (i.e. unpleasant) prospect (i.e. possibility).

Therefore, if I rephrased the sentence (or this part of the sentence), it might be something like this: "These boys and girls don't seem to care that they will most likely be spending the next few years locked up in prison [because they are young and have big egos which are satisfied by the idea of having their picture in the newspaper, just like celebrities and politicians]."

Answer

'Serving time' is another way of saying being in prison. "The disagreeable prospect of (being in prison/incarceration/being sent to jail) seems remote so long as he can gloat over his likeness sharing space with pictures of sports figures, movie and TV stars and politicians. "