Inside the World's Toughest Prisons

Last updated
Inside the World's Toughest Prisons
Genre Documentary
Presented by Paul Connolly (season 1), Raphael Rowe (season 2–present)
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original languagesEnglish (presenter), local languages of countries whose prison systems were visited (Spanish, Portuguese, German, Greek, Norwegian, Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Tagalog, Tok Pisin, Greenlandic, Sabela, Mauritian Creole, Afrikaans, Finnish, Indonesian, Czech)
No. of seasons7
No. of episodes27
Production
Executive producers
  • Emma Read (Emporium)
  • Gabe Solomon (Emporium)
  • Olivia LaRoche for season 2 onward (commissioned the show for Netflix)
[1]
Original release
Network
ReleaseApril 12, 2016 (2016-04-12) 
present

Inside the World's Toughest Prisons is a television documentary series produced by London-based Emporium Productions [1] and available on Netflix. [2] The documentary shows life in various prisons around the world, mostly from the prisoner perspective but also including the perspective of prison guards and others interacting with the prison system. Season 1 was hosted by Irish journalist Paul Connolly and originally aired on Channel 5. [3] [4] Since the second season, the series has been commissioned by Netflix and hosted by UK journalist Raphael Rowe, who had himself served 12 years in prison for a crime he was eventually acquitted of. [1] [5] [6] [7] The series's seventh season was released on 15 September 2023.

Contents

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally released
First releasedLast releasedNetwork
1 4April 12, 2016 (2016-04-12)May 4, 2016 (2016-05-04) Channel 5 & Netflix
2 4July 6, 2018 (2018-07-06)Netflix
3 4December 14, 2018 (2018-12-14)
4 4July 29, 2020 (2020-07-29)
5 3January 9, 2021 (2021-01-09)
6 4September 28, 2022 (2022-09-28)
7 4September 15, 2023 (2023-09-15)

Season 1 (2016)

Season 1, hosted by Paul Connolly, was aired in 2016 on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom. [4] It is now available on Netflix along with Seasons 2 to 7. [2]

  1. 1 2 3 Clarke, Stewart (June 19, 2018). "Netflix Locks Up Deal for 'Inside the World's Toughest Prisons'" . Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Inside the World's Toughest Prisons". Netflix. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  3. "Inside the World's Toughest Prisons". Channel 5. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  4. 1 2 Harding, Nick (February 10, 2016). "Inside The World's Toughest Prisons: Paul Connolly spent time in Poland's Piotrkow for Channel 5 series". The Independent. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  5. White, Peter (June 19, 2018). "Netflix Goes 'Inside The World's Toughest Prisons' With Latest Factual Original". Deadline. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  6. Lease, Lawrence; Flowers, Jane (June 20, 2018). "Netflix brings a new four-part series of 'Inside the World's Toughest Prisons' next month". BlastingNews. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  7. Cobb, Kayla (July 12, 2018). "'Inside the World's Toughest Prisons' Looks at Prison Life From an Insider's Perspective". Decider. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
No.
overall
No. in
season
TitleOriginal air date
11"Honduras"April 20, 2016 (2016-04-20)
Connolly spends a week inside Danli prison in Honduras. Distinguishing features of the prison: the toughest inmates are armed and act as enforcers for the overwhelmed guards.
22"Poland"April 27, 2016 (2016-04-27)
Connolly spends time in Poland's Piotrków prison. Distinguishing features of the prison: prisoners have to stay in their cells 23 hours a day, and the prison experience is quite claustrophobic.