Prison films and TV series
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- DirectorStephen WallaceStarsBryan BrownMax PhippsDennis MillerWhen a repeat offender returns to a prison after exposing abuses committed by its guards to the press, tensions boil between inmates and staff, culminating in a bloody riot.
- DirectorAlan ClarkeStarsRay WinstoneMick FordJulian FirthAn uncompromising story of life in a British juvenile offender institution in the '70s.
- DirectorAndrew DominikStarsEric BanaSimon LyndonVince ColosimoChopper tells the intense story of Mark "Chopper" Read, a legendary criminal who wrote his autobiography while serving a jail sentence in prison. His book, "From the Inside", upon which the film is based, was a best-seller.
- DirectorNicolas Winding RefnStarsTom HardyKelly AdamsLuing AndrewsA young man who was sentenced to seven years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending three decades in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter-ego, Charles Bronson.
- DirectorMichael NoerStarsCharlie HunnamDamijan OklopdzicChristopher FairbankWrongfully convicted for murder, Henri Charriere forms an unlikely relationship with fellow inmate and quirky convicted counterfeiter, Louis Dega, in an attempt to escape from the notorious penal colony on Devil's Island.
- DirectorFrank DarabontStarsTim RobbinsMorgan FreemanBob GuntonOver the course of several years, two convicts form a friendship, seeking consolation and, eventually, redemption through basic compassion.
- DirectorTim RobbinsStarsSusan SarandonSean PennRobert ProskyA nun, while comforting a convicted killer on death row, empathizes with both the killer and his victim's families.
- DirectorFrank DarabontStarsTom HanksMichael Clarke DuncanDavid MorseA tale set on death row, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the lead guard, Paul Edgecombe, recognizes John's gift, he tries to help stave off the condemned man's execution.
- DirectorTobias LindholmMichael NoerStarsPilou AsbækDulfi Al-JabouriRoland MøllerThe R of the title stands for the young protagonist, Rune, fearlessly played by Pilou Asbæk. Imprisoned for violent assault, he's a cocky, good-looking young man placed in the hardcore ward, where his survival depends on quickly learning the prison's parallel world of rules, honor, and obligations. R also stands for Rachid, a young Muslim prisoner who becomes Rune's friend and accomplice, defying the rigid racial stratifications among the inmates.
- CreatorKim Fupz AakesonFrederik Louis HviidMichael NoerStarsSofie GråbølDavid DencikYoussef Wayne HvidtfeldtFour prison officers are forced to make some major changes in the prison they work in to help save their jobs, but those changes disrupt the fragile power balance among the inmates and turn daily life into a battle for survival.
- StarsBesir ZeciriMaria CordsenAfshin FirouziThe future looks bright for Mohammed. A good job and girlfriend, but at a pleasant party with the in-laws their lives are turned upside-down.
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsClint EastwoodPatrick McGoohanRoberts BlossomAlcatraz is the most secure prison of its time. It is believed that no one can ever escape from it, until three daring men make a possibly successful attempt at escaping from one of the most infamous prisons in the world.
- DirectorMarius HolstStarsBenjamin HelstadTrond NilssenStellan SkarsgårdNorwegian winter, early 20th century. On the boys home Bastoy, a new inmate leads the boys to a violent uprising against a brutal regime. How far is he willing to go to attain freedom?
- DirectorSteve BuscemiStarsWillem DafoeEdward FurlongDanny TrejoA young man goes to prison and a tough, older convict takes him under his wing as a mentor.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisPete PostlethwaiteAlison CrosbieAn Irish man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. Meanwhile, a British lawyer fights to clear their names and free them.
- DirectorStuart RosenbergStarsRobert RedfordYaphet KottoMorgan FreemanThe new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.
- DirectorJonathan KaplanStarsClaire DanesKate BeckinsaleBill PullmanTwo women are arrested for smuggling while vacationing in Thailand.
- DirectorSteve McQueenStarsMichael FassbenderLiam CunninghamStuart GrahamIrish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.
- DirectorJacques AudiardStarsTahar RahimNiels ArestrupAdel BencherifA delinquent Muslim man struggles to get by in prison until he is taken under the wing of a powerful mob boss. But his gradual rise through the mob's ranks brings him in conflict with his mentor.
- DirectorTony KayeStarsEdward NortonEdward FurlongBeverly D'AngeloLiving a life marked by violence, neo-Nazi Derek finally goes to prison after killing two black youths. Upon his release, Derek vows to change; he hopes to prevent his brother, Danny, who idolizes Derek, from following in his footsteps.
- DirectorTim MetcalfeStarsJames WoodsRobert Sean LeonardEllen GreeneA prison guard at Leavenworth with lofty ideals and hopes of reform struggles to understand a violent, hateful and conscienceless convict. The result is a written testimonial to a crime that no one could have predicted.
- DirectorKiefer SutherlandStarsForest WhitakerKiefer SutherlandClancy BrownA killer on death row finds an unlikely friend in a prison guard.
- DirectorAngela PopeStarsJulia OrmondTim RothKeith AllenA beautiful young dentist (Ormond) working in a tough British prison starts to become attracted to a violent inmate (Roth) after the break-up of her marriage, and embarks upon an illicit affair with him, with terrible consequences for all.
- DirectorRick RosenthalStarsSean PennReni SantoniJim MoodyChicago crime kid Mick O'Brien is sent to reform school after accidentally killing a rival's kid brother.
- DirectorDavid MackenzieStarsJack O'ConnellBen MendelsohnRupert FriendEric Love, 19, is locked up in prison. On his first day, he assaults another inmate and several guards. He's offered group therapy and his dad, an inmate as well, tries to talk sense into him. Can he be rehabilitated?
- DirectorDeran SarafianStarsJean-Claude Van DammeRobert GuillaumeCynthia GibbIn a violent and corrupt prison, decorated cop Louis Burke must infiltrate the jail to find answers to a number of inside murders. What he finds is a struggle of life and death tied in to his own past.
- CreatorTom FontanaStarsErnie HudsonJ.K. SimmonsLee TergesenA series chronicling the daily activities of an unusual prison facility and its criminal inhabitants.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsBrad DavisIrene MiracleBo HopkinsBilly Hayes, an American college student, is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison.
- DirectorOliver HirschbiegelStarsMoritz BleibtreuChristian BerkelOliver StokowskiFor two weeks, 20 male participants are hired to play prisoners and guards in a prison. The "prisoners" have to follow seemingly mild rules, and the "guards" are told to retain order without using physical violence.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsAndré BervilJean KeraudyMichel ConstantinDistrust and uncertainty arise when four long-term inmates cautiously induct a new prisoner into their elaborate prison-break scheme.
- DirectorDaniel MonzónStarsLuis TosarAlberto AmmannAntonio ResinesThe story of two men on different sides of a prison riot -- the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsFrançois LeterrierCharles Le ClaincheMaurice BeerblockA captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from a German prison in France.
- DirectorHector BabencoStarsEnrique DiazWagner MouraCaio BlatStories of crime, revenge, love, and friendship at the Carandiru Penitentiary, the largest prison in Latin America.
- DirectorRingo LamStarsChow Yun-FatTony Ka Fai LeungKa-Kui HoInside a Hong Kong prison, two inmates form a friendship and face the difficulty of life on the inside.
- DirectorNgai Choi LamStarsSiu-Wong FanMei Sheng FanKa-Kui HoRiki-Oh, a young man who has superhuman strength, is incarcerated in a private prison, where inmates are treated like slaves. He is forced to use his unstoppable form of martial arts to destroy the corrupt officials and their lackeys.
- DirectorCosta-GavrasStarsYves MontandSimone SignoretGabriele FerzettiA high-ranking official is forced to confess to high treason.
- DirectorRyszard BugajskiStarsKrystyna JandaAdam FerencyJanusz GajosTonia goes out drinking. She wakes up in prison, not having a clue why she's there. She is tortured to encourage her to confess to a crime she is not aware of.
- DirectorFrank van MechelenStarsFilip PeetersEls OlaertsKyoko ScholiersIn August 1996, bus drivers Marcel Van Loock and Wim Moreels are apprehended by the Moroccan Customs for drug trafficking. Inside their bus, hidden behind a false compartment, they have discovered 700 pounds of hashish. Although the owner of the bus company is arrested as well and makes a full confession clearly indicating that both drivers were unaware of the hidden drugs, the Moroccan judge sentences both men to 5 years in the Moroccan prison of Tangiers. Nothing could have prepared the two men for life inside a Moroccan prison. Without food, clothes or medical care, they must learn how to take care of themselves to survive their stay in prison. Corrupt guards, corrupt lawyers and judges, a consul who doesn't care and frequent beatings are only part of the terrible prison. Meanwhile their families at home are left without any information, any help or any hope - finding out that their own government doesn't care for Belgian people in prisons abroad.
- DirectorNicolae MargineanuStarsMaria PloaeDorina LazarEcaterina NazareBased on Nicole Valery-Grossu's European best seller autobiographic novel "Bless you, prison", the film is a true story, with real events and characters. A young intellectual woman, Nicole, is arrested in the years of Stalinism simply for being an active member of an opposition party. There follow three months of exhausting interrogation and isolation. Alone in a cell, she undergoes a spiritual experience similar to that of the great mystics. She proceeds to an in-depth soul-searching that helps her discover the power of faith and steels her to put up resistance. Nicole goes through the ordeal of communist prisons, conflicts and risky activities, and manages to provide a heartening example for the other inmates. Daily prison life is not drab but full of unexpected happenings like a story.
- DirectorToshiaki ToyodaStarsYoshio HaradaRyûhei MatsudaMichio AkiyamaNine convicts escape from prison; most are convicted murderers. They commandeer a van from a strip club.
- DirectorAnnette K. OlesenStarsAnn Eleonora JørgensenTrine DyrholmNicolaj KopernikusAnna begins as a rookie chaplain in a women's prison and meets an inmate who can perform miracles and cure drug addicts with a touch. She says Anna is pregnant and a test confirms it. But not all is well.
- DirectorPablo TraperoStarsMartina GusmánGuadalupe RéboraFrancisco MarquezAn incarcerated woman struggles to raise her son from prison.
- DirectorIsrael Adrián CaetanoStarsRodrigo de la SernaPablo EcharriNazareno CaseroThe goalkeeper of a little-known soccer team is kidnapped by a Argentinean government squad and sent to a detention center. After months of torture, he plots his escape with three other young men.
- DirectorShun'ya ItôStarsMeiko KajiRie YokoyamaYayoi WatanabeAfter being used and betrayed by the detective she had fallen in love with, young Matsu is sent to a female prison full of sadistic guards and disobedient prisoners.
- DirectorPaolo TavianiVittorio TavianiStarsCosimo RegaSalvatore StrianoGiovanni ArcuriInmates at a high-security prison in Rome prepare for a public performance of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar."
- DirectorYôichi SaiStarsTsutomu YamazakiTeruyuki KagawaTomorô TaguchiA man serving a sentence in a minimum-security prison. Life in the jail is rigid and organized, eventually leading all of the cell-mates to abandon their individuality.
- DirectorJean-Stéphane SauvaireStarsJoe ColeVithaya PansringarmCherry MikoThe true story of an English boxer incarcerated in one of Thailand's most notorious prisons as he fights in Muay Thai tournaments to earn his freedom.
- DirectorStuart GordonStarsChristopher LambertLoryn LocklinKurtwood SmithIn a future, private underground prison/Fortress, the inmates are computer controlled with CCTV, dream readers and devices that can cause pain or death. John and his illegally pregnant wife are inside but want to escape before birth.
- DirectorJohn FlynnStarsSylvester StalloneDonald SutherlandJohn AmosWith only six months left of his sentence, inmate Frank Leone is transferred from a minimum security prison to a maximum security prison by a vindictive warden.
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsSteve McQueenDustin HoffmanVictor JoryA French convict in the 1930s befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence in the South American penal colony on Devil's Island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsMatthew ModineNicolas CageJohn HarkinsAfter two friends return home from the Vietnam War one becomes mentally unstable and obsesses with becoming a bird.
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsTom WaitsJohn LurieRoberto BenigniTwo men are framed and sent to jail, where they meet a murderer who helps them escape and leave the state.
- DirectorJamaa FanakaStarsLeon Isaac KennedyWilbur 'Hi-Fi' WhiteThomas M. PollardA hitchhiker named Martel Gordone gets in a fight with two bikers over a prostitute, and one of the bikers is killed. Gordone is arrested and sent to prison, where he joins the prison's boxing team in an effort to secure an early parole and to establish his dominance over the prison's toughest gang.
- DirectorJamaa FanakaStarsLeon Isaac KennedyGlynn TurmanErnie HudsonAn ex-con, on parole and trying to straighten his life out, decides to resume his boxing career when one of his prison enemies escapes and kills his girlfriend.
- DirectorJamaa FanakaStarsLeon Isaac KennedyAnthony GearySteve AntinA man is framed for murder and sent to prison. He is beaten and tortured, then forced to fight the prison's worst killer, a martial-arts fighting midget called Thud.