Crime // Behind Bars – The World’s Toughest Prisons
S16 × 60’HD
S26 × 60’HD
S36 × 60’UHD
Original Broadcaster
Discovery Southern Europe & NTV
Original Producer
Maximus Films
Rights
Asia Pacific & CIS
Across four continents, six different prisons - the series "Behind Bars - world's toughest prisons" - takes us beyond the gates, the walls, bars and cells into an unknown world, a world we know exists but a world nobody wants to think about. Rules and rigid routine in some, total anarchy in others, making it a hell on earth for every inmate.
The series accompanies guards on their daily routines: those who struggle to maintain law and order and those who abuse their powers mercilessly. But above all, each episode allows the viewer to see the world from the prisoner’s point of view: the newcomer spending his first terrifying night locked up. Felons who live for the day when their fate will be decided: will it be life behind bars? A worse fate? Foreigners, far away from home, languishing away under the most horrendous conditions. And mothers who have to raise their children in the shadow of prison bars. Six Women. One thing in common. They have ALL survived horrific attacks.Off Africa's east coast, in Madagascar, prisoners languish in a jail full of rats, disease and unfathomable filth. And not enough to eat.
Then we are in Texas, the state where the most death sentences are carried out, in Dallas County Jail, where gang wars move seamlessly from the streets to behind prison walls. The facility's Special Response Team knows the deal and is there to uphold and maintain the upper hand amongst gang members, killers and petty thieves.
Quite a contrast to San Pedro, in La Paz, Bolivia where guards dare not even enter. Where guards patrol the outside and the criminals rule on the inside.
In the middle of the Arizona desert, we visit Tent City Jail where harassment is the name of the game: prisoners sleep in tents, that heat up to over 140 Fahrenheit under the scorching desert sun.
Behind Bars has found the world’s toughest prisons and tells stories about places you won’t ever want to visit yourself.
