A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.
In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.
In 1971, Stanford's Professor Philip Zimbardo conducts a controversial psychology experiment in which college students pretend to be either prisoners or guards, but the proceedings soon get out of hand. Based on a true story.
Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter faces the threat of execution for refusing to fight for the Nazis during World War II.
Puek, a boy from the slums, had no choice but to endure his circumstances, feeling that he could never have the same worth as others. He remained silent, accepting the bullying of others just to survive in society.
A World War I veteran’s dreams of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Things get even worse when he’s falsely convicted of a crime and sent to work on a chain gang.
The true story of Dwight Worker, an American who was caught smuggling drugs in Mexico, and sentenced to fortress-like Lecumberri Prison where he endured brutal conditions. With the help of his wife, Barbara, he escaped the prison by disguising himself as a woman. He was the first prisoner to escape Lecumberri since Pancho Villa.
Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of Turkey. The Turkish courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".
The true story of Jimmy Boyle, who was reputed to be Scotland's most violent man.
Refuge(e) traces the incredible journey of two refugees, Alpha and Zeferino. Each fled violent threats to their lives in their home countries and presented themselves at the US border asking for political asylum, only to be incarcerated in a for-profit prison for months on end without having committed any crime. Thousands more like them can't tell their stories.
Soldier of fortune, Monroe Bieler, is sent to dole out some American-style justice when the wife and child of an African president are kidnapped by terrorists.
Panic arises among Allied POWs aboard a Japanese freighter when they learn that the ship is actually a decoy target for American submarines on night patrol. The prisoners unite and attack their Japanese captors just as an American sub surfaces and, not knowing the prisoners are aboard, prepares to torpedo the ship.
Chile, 1970. During a night of heavy drinking, Jaime, a lonely 20-year-old young man, is sentenced to prison. There, he meets “The Stallion”, an older and respected man in whom he finds protection, and from whom he learns about love and loyalty. But as their relationship grows stronger, “The Stallion” faces the violent power struggles within the prison.
Alan Kelley's eagerly awaited edit of a Survival Research Laboratories show in the Bay Area held on an empty parking lot off Beale Street at the foot of the Bay Bridge. The show revolves around the many humorous aspects of violent human interaction. Also included in the video are footage from the Wired anniversary party and the SRL Halloween Trick where the V1 was operated in front of the Roxie Theater and several other machines and props operated by SRL members on Minna Street. Includes footage of Mark Pauline being detained by the SFPD for questioning on the device ignited on 16th Street...
A 1974 film based on the best-selling autobiography of Sonny Carson who joined a gang and committed petty crime before being sent to prison. After his release from prison he changes his life.
A prison-camp convict learns that his younger brother will soon be joining him behind bars.
The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.
The Hell Hole of North Carolina. In 1957, the people of North Carolina feared two things - the mountain chain gang and a man named Seabo. North Carolina's Buckstone County Prison and Chain Gang were infamous as the most feared correctional institution in the country. Run by the sadistically brutal Warden Coley and his henchman, Jimbo, prisoners rarely caused a problem and those that did, didn't live long enough to talk about it.
The life story of Herman, a promising young man who under extreme circumstances changed into Romania's most effective torture machine in the infamous Pitesti Experiment during the Communist Regime
This film from Bill Moyers is the first documentary to focus exclusively on people formerly detained in New York City’s notorious Rikers Island Jail. They tell their compelling stories direct to the camera, revealing the violent arc of the Rikers experience – from the trauma of entry to extortion and control by inmates, to oppressive corrections officers, violence and solitary confinement.