S01E01 Alcatraz
Alcatraz, built to hold the worst of the worst, is the last stop for repeat offenders and troublemakers from other prisons. These are three stories of desperate men willing to risk it all to escape...
Prison Chronicles
S01E06: San Quentin
San Quentin located in Marin County on the San Francisco Bay is California's oldest prison dating back to the gold rush, and home to the state's only gas chamber. Here three men have tried to find their way out of the prison's clutches. George Jackson attempts to shoot his way out by sneaking a gun in an afro wig. Stanley "Tookie" Williams, co-founder of the Crips, attempts to write his way out of prison and earns a Nobel Peace Prize Nomination. Serial escape artists Forrest Silva Tucker enlists two other inmates to make a boat and row their way out of the prison. Will they make it?
Overview
The series takes you inside some of the world’s most notorious prisons. Every episode delves into the unique history of a specific prison, showcasing its wildest practices, infamous inmates, harrowing events, and ingenious escapes. Spanning 1,000 years, the series covers legendary institutions from the historic Tower of London to today’s high-tech ADX, where El Chapo is currently held. Through interviews with journalists, former correctional officers, and previously incarcerated individuals, the series offers an authentic glimpse into the inner workings of these prisons.
Episodes
S01E02 ADX
ADX is the place for terrorists, serial killers, and anyone else who will never again see the light of day. Located in Florence, Colorado it's been dubbed the "Alcatraz of the Rockies." Ishmael Petty, a...
S01E03 Hanoi Hilton
The Hanoi Hilton is perhaps the most famous American POW prison of the Vietnam War located in the city of Hanoi. In Vietnamese its name literally means “hell hole” but even hell cannot break the...
S01E04 Sing Sing
A maximum-security prison on the banks of the Hudson, just 30 miles north of New York City, it gave rise to the term “being sent up the river”. “Old Sparky”–one of the first electric chairs...
S01E05 Dannemora
Dannemora, located in the frigid Adirondack mountains, its nickname is "little Siberia." Officially called the Clinton Correctional facility--this foreboding prison is commonly known as Dannemora--named after the town where it is built. The prison opens...
S01E06 San Quentin
San Quentin located in Marin County on the San Francisco Bay is California's oldest prison dating back to the gold rush, and home to the state's only gas chamber. Here three men have tried to...
S01E07 Attica
Attica, a 90-year-old maximum-security prison in upstate New York, has a legacy of violence and inmate abuse stretching back decades. From the serial killer Son of Sam who gets his throat slashed, to an Irish...
S01E08 Leavenworth
Leavenworth located 25-miles northwest of Kansas City, was the largest maximum-security federal prison in the United States for over a hundred years.
S01E09 Devil's Island
France shipped prisoners to Devil's Island located off French Guiana so they would vanish from the public eye; its most famous prisoner, Alfred Dreyfus, is a military officer convicted of crimes he didn't commit.
S01E10 Andersonville
Deep in the heart of the Confederacy, Andersonville was the last place a Union soldier wanted to end up during the Civil War; only opened for 14 months, it's the deadliest American prison, becoming the...
S01E11 Tower of London
Located in the heart of London on the River Thames, the Tower of London's reputation for torture and beheadings fuels nightmares; originally built as a fortress by William the Conqueror in 1078, it becomes a...
S01E12 The Soviet Gulag
Within the first forty years of operation of the Soviet Gulag system, at least 18 million people were imprisoned and more than one and a half million were killed; three tales of the fight for...
