I was reading a book where one person volunteered to go to prison in the stead of the convicted person. Is this really possible? Thanks in advance. 
Possible to volunteer, sure. When the DA and the Judge stop laughing they will telll you no. At least not in a US court. Significant others offer to do this all the time, but its just for emotional drama points. I would go to jail in your place baby because I love you so much type stuff. What book are you referring to?
And was it written by Edmund Wells?
If I remember correctly, in ‘Tale of Two Cities’, someone goes to the guillotine for another…
The only time I’ve seen something remotely similar to that is when a friend of mine took the fall for her brother when he was involved in a hit and run/DUI.
He was drunk, smashed his truck into a tree, got back on the road figuring no one had seen him and went home. A little while later the police showed up at his house and he denied everything. The pointed out that his smashed car was in the driveway and he still played dumb. Since this DUI/Hit and Run would have put him in jail for a few months he got his sister to go and turn herself in. She went down the the police station, told the cops it was her, answered a few questions and got off with a ticket for “Not reporting an accident within 24 hours” (even though it had only been 12 hours or so since the accident).
Dumbass brother ended up going back to jail for some REALLY REALLY stupid thing about two weeks later anyways. We all knew it was coming sooner or later, to bad he screwed over his sister in the process.
Sydney secretly took the place of Charles , but against his will.
One case of this occurred in Hamburg, Germany in 2001/2002. An unemployed man agreed with his brother (who ran a brothel - this type of business tends to get out of your hands if you are not available for hands-on management) to report to prison instead of him, presumably in return for money. He was only found out almost one year into a two-year prison term. cite (German language)
Well, there was a recent case in France where the twin brother of an ETA terrorist went to visit him in prison and they switched places.
Les gendarmes were not pleased, no. The “innocent” brother got to stay in prison for his own crime of “aiding and abetting the escape of a prisoner,” though: they didn’t go and judge him for the crimes the first brother was charged with.