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TV Shows & Series: Best "prison" TV Shows/Series

A prison film is a film genre concerned with prison life and often prison escape. These films range from acclaimed dramas examining the nature of prisons, such as A Man Escaped, Cool Hand Luke, Midnight Express, Brubaker, Escape from Alcatraz, The Shawshank Redemption, and Kiss of the Spider Woman to actioners like Lock Up and Undisputed, and even comedies satirizing the genre like Stir Crazy, Life, and Let's Go to Prison. Prison films have been asserted to be "guilty of oversimplifying complex issues, the end result of which is the proliferation of stereotypes". For example, they are said to perpetuate "a common misperception that most correctional officers are abusive", and that prisoners are "violent and beyond redemption". ()

Related keywords: "imprisonment" | "prison escape" | "prisoner" | "prisoners of war" | "release from prison"

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80 TV shows/series found (page 1/3):

Orange Is the New Black(2013-2019)

1h per episode | Comedy, Drama
3.8/5 (with 1,150 votes)

A crime she committed in her youthful past sends Piper Chapman to a women's prison, where she trades her comfortable New York life for one of unexpected camaraderie and conflict in an eccentric group of fellow inmates.

With Taylor Schilling, Laura Prepon, Uzo Aduba, Danielle Brooks, Michael Harney, Michelle Hurst, ...
Subscription Netflix

Prisoner: Cell Block H(1979-2001)

50min per episode | Soap / Telenovela, Drama
3.8/5 (with 13 votes)

Prisoner is an Australian soap opera that is set in the Wentworth Detention Centre, a fictional women's prison.

Directed by Chris Adshead - With Elspeth Ballantyne

Birds of a Feather(1989-2016)

30min per episode | Comedy, Drama
3.0/5 (with 11 votes)

Birds of a Feather is a British sitcom that was broadcast on BBC One from 1989 until 1998 and on ITV from 2013. Starring Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph, it was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who also wrote some of the episodes along with many other writers. The first episode sees sisters Tracey Stubbs and Sharon Theodopolopodos brought together when their husbands are sent to prison for armed robbery. Sharon, who lived in an Edmonton council flat, moves into Tracey's expensive house in Chigwell, Essex. Their next-door neighbour, and later friend, Dorien Green is a middle-aged married woman who is constantly having affairs with younger men. In the later series the location is changed to Hainault. The series ended on Christmas Eve 1998 after a 9-year-run.

With Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson, Lesley Joseph

The Shield(2002-2008)

45min per episode | Crime, Drama, Action & Adventure
4.1/5 (with 328 votes)

The story of an inner-city Los Angeles police precinct where some of the cops aren't above breaking the rules or working against their associates to both keep the streets safe and their self-interests intact.

Directed by Shawn Ryan - With Michael Chiklis, David Rees Snell, Glenn Close, Catherine Dent, Reed Diamond, Paula Garcés, ...

Prison Break(2005-2017)

45min per episode | Action & Adventure, Crime, Drama
4.1/5 (with 2,335 votes)

Due to a political conspiracy, an innocent man is sent to death row and his only hope is his brother, who makes it his mission to deliberately get himself sent to the same prison in order to break the both of them out, from the inside out.

Directed by Paul Scheuring - With Wentworth Miller, Dominic Purcell, Amaury Nolasco, Sarah Wayne Callies, Robert Knepper, Paul Adelstein, ...
Subscription Netflix

Mayor of Kingstown(2021-)

Drama, Crime
4.0/5 (with 155 votes)

In a small Michigan town where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry, the McClusky family are the power brokers between the police, criminals, inmates, prison guards and politicians in a city completely dependent on prisons and the prisoners they contain.

With Jeremy Renner, Dianne Wiest, Hugh Dillon, Taylor Handley, Emma Laird, Aidan Gillen, ...

MINDHUNTER(2017-2019)

Drama, Crime
4.0/5 (with 1,109 votes)

An agent in the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit develops profiling techniques as he pursues notorious serial killers and rapists.

Directed by David Fincher - With Jonathan Groff, Anna Torv, Holt McCallany, Hannah Gross, Cotter Smith, Stacey Roca, ...
Subscription Netflix

Arrested Development(2003-2019)

Comedy
4.0/5 (with 618 votes)

The story of a wealthy family that lost everything, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together.

With Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Alia Shawkat, David Cross, Jessica Walter, Portia de Rossi, ...

60 Days In(2016-)

45min per episode | Documentary, Reality-TV
3.4/5 (with 35 votes)

An unprecedented look at life behind bars at Indiana's Clark County Jail as seven innocent volunteers are sent to live among its general population for 60 days without officers, fellow inmates, or staff knowing their secret.

I (Almost) Got Away With It(2010-2016)

Documentary, Crime
3.2/5 (with 4 votes)

Murders, drug dealers, bank robbers or jail escapees. The stories are different, but the motive is always the same: to stay out of prison. See what pushed these fugitives to their crimes, how they changed their identities, evaded the law and - almost - got away with it.

Oz(1997-2003)

1h per episode | Crime, Drama
4.0/5 (with 331 votes)

The daily lives of prisoners in Emerald City, an experimental unit of the Oswald Maximum Security Prison where ingroups - Muslims, Latinos, Italians, Aryans - stick close to their mutual friends and terrorize their mutual enemies.

Directed by Adam Bernstein - With Kirk Acevedo, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ernie Hudson, Terry Kinney, Rita Moreno, Harold Perrineau, ...

Locked Up(2015-2019)

50min per episode | Drama, Crime
4.0/5 (with 1,179 votes)

Set up to take the blame for corporate fraud, young Macarena Ferreiro is locked up in a high-security women's prison surrounded by tough, ruthless criminals in this tense, provocative Spanish thriller.

Directed by Jesús Colmenar, Sandra Gallego, Marc Vigil, Ramón Salazar, Carles Torrens, Jesús Rodrigo, ... - With Maggie Civantos, Najwa Nimri, Carlos Hipólito, Roberto Enríquez, Alba Flores, Cristina Plazas, ...
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Wentworth(2013-2021)

45min per episode | Drama, Crime
4.0/5 (with 127 votes)

Bea Smith is locked up while awaiting trial for the attempted murder of her husband and must learn how life works in prison. A modern adaptation and sequel of the iconic Prisoner series.

With Pamela Rabe, Danielle Cormack, Nicole da Silva, Kate Atkinson, Celia Ireland

Tenko(1981-1984)

1h per episode | Drama, War & Politics
4.0/5 (with 4 votes)

Based on real-life experiences, Tenko remains one of the most fondly remembered and acclaimed BBC dramas of the early 1980s. It follows a group of women, formerly comfortably well-off ex-pats living in Singapore, as they are captured by the Japanese during World War II.

Directed by Pennant Roberts - With Ann Bell, Stephanie Cole, Stephanie Beacham, Louise Jameson, Patricia Lawrence, Veronica Roberts, ...

Black Bird(2022)

16
| Drama, Crime
4.1/5 (with 249 votes)

As Jimmy Keene begins a 10-year prison sentence, he gets an incredible offer: If he can elicit a confession from suspected killer Larry Hall, Jimmy will be freed. Completing this mission becomes the challenge of a lifetime.

Directed by Michaël R. Roskam - With Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser, Sepideh Moafi, Greg Kinnear, Ray Liotta

A Favorita(2008-2009)

Soap / Telenovela, Drama, Mystery
3.9/5 (with 10 votes)

Donatela and Flora, two friends who became rivals. One of them committed a homicide and pretends to be innocent. There are two versions for the same story. Who, after all, is telling the truth? Donatela or Flora?

Directed by Ricardo Waddington - With Cláudia Raia

The Night Of(2016)

1h per episode | Crime, Drama, Mystery
4.0/5 (with 472 votes)

After a night of partying with a female stranger, a man wakes up to find her stabbed to death and is charged with her murder.

Directed by Steven Zaillian - With John Turturro, Riz Ahmed, Bill Camp, Payman Maadi, Poorna Jagannathan, Sofia Black-D'Elia, ...

Time(2021-2023)

58min per episode | Drama
3.8/5 (with 81 votes)

Guilt, violence and impossible choices – what does it take to survive? Tense, gritty and heartbreaking – Jimmy McGovern's award-winning prison drama, with an all-star cast.

The Escape of the Seven(2023-)

Drama, Mystery
3.3/5 (with 8 votes)

The mysterious disappearance of a girl brings together seven people from all different walks of life. They all have an intertwined connection to her disappearance in the most horrific, unfathomable, and despicable way. As money drives them to their greed, lies, and delirium, they face divine retribution as they struggle for their lives in a picturesque revenge. How far will they go to claim their innocence, and will anyone make it out alive?

Directed by Joo Dong min - With Um Ki-joon, Hwang Jung-eum, Lee Joon, Lee Yu-bi, Shin Eun-kyung, Yun Jong-hun, ...

El marginal(2016-2022)

1h per episode | Crime, Drama
4.1/5 (with 185 votes)

An ex-cop entered a prison as convicted under a false identity in order to infiltrate within a group of prisoners that has just kidnapped the teenage daughter of an important national judge.

Directed by Luis Ortega - With Maite Lanata, Nicolas Furtado, Claudio Rissi, Gerardo Romano, Juan Minujín, Emanuel García, ...

Jett(2019)

1h per episode | Drama, Crime
3.5/5 (with 46 votes)

Fresh out of prison, world-class thief Daisy ”Jett” Kowalski is forced back into doing what she does best by dangerous and eccentric criminals determined to exploit her skills for their own ends.

With Carla Gugino, Giancarlo Esposito, Elena Anaya, Michael Aronov, Gaite Jansen, Gil Bellows, ...

Prisoner(2004)

1h per episode | Drama, Soap / Telenovela

Wrongfully accused of a crime she didn't commit, 13 year old Guadalupe Santos is sentenced to 30 years in jail, while in jail she gives birth to a baby girl who is taken from her by her older sister Milagros. 15 years later she escapes jail and meets with Daniel Moncada who turns out to be the brother of the man she was accused of killing.

With Gabriela Spanic, Mauricio Islas, Gabriel Porras

Deadman Wonderland(2011)

24min per episode | Action & Adventure, Animation, Science-Fiction & Fantasy
3.8/5 (with 197 votes)

Ganta is the only survivor after a mysterious man in red slaughters a classroom full of teenagers. He's framed for the carnage, sentenced to die, and locked away in the most twisted prison ever built: Deadman Wonderland. And then it gets worse.

Unite 9(2012-2019)

1h per episode | Drama
2.9/5 (with 5 votes)

Marie Lamontagne, a widowed mother of two in her forties, confesses to a murder she didn't commit to protect her daughter. Thrust into brutally unfamiliar and hostile surroundings, she first learns survival, then confronts the biggest challenge of her life: bonding with her fellow inmates and helping them take back control of their lives.

Directed by Jean-Philippe Duval, Yan Lanouette Turgeon, Louis Bolduc

The Yard(2018-2019)

2h per episode | Crime, Drama
3.7/5 (with 25 votes)

After a fateful domestic clash, a devoted mother finds herself in prison and fighting to survive in hopes of reuniting with her daughter.

Correlli(1995)

50min per episode | Drama
3.0/5 (with 1 vote)

Correlli was an Australian television series first broadcast by ABC TV in 1995. It starred Deborra-Lee Furness as prison psychologist Louisa Correlli. The series also featured her future husband Hugh Jackman in one of his earliest roles. The first episode entitled "The Rat Tamer" has been released on to DVD. The creators and Associate Producers of the show were actress Denise Roberts from the ABC's G.P., and Carol Long. Roberts also played the role of prison warden Helen Buckley in episodes four and five.

With Deborra-Lee Furness, Hugh Jackman, Neil Melville

Emperatriz(2011)

45min per episode | Drama, Comedy, Crime
4.1/5 (with 26 votes)

Emperatriz is a Mexican telenovela produced by Fides Velasco for Azteca. It stars Gabriela Spanic as the title character, while Bernie Paz as the male lead. Other casts include Sergio de Bustamante, Julieta Egurrola, Adriana Louvier, Marimar Vega, Miriam Higareda, Alberto Guerra, Rafael Sanchez Navarro and Carmen Delgado. Omar Fierro made special appearance in the first five episodes, and later returns in the final part of the series.[1] The filming process took place between 17 March 2011 - 30 September 2011. The series premiered on 5 April 2011, 19 days after filming the first scene, at 8:30pm, occupying Prófugas del Destino's slot, and ended on 8 November 2011. Emperatriz is also known as most selling telenovela of 2011.

With Gabriela Spanic

Porridge(1974-1977)

30min per episode | Comedy
4.1/5 (with 24 votes)

- No description / details available yet. -

Directed by Sydney Lotterby - With Ronnie Barker, Richard Beckinsale, Fulton Mackay, Brian Wilde, Sam Kelly, Tony Osoba, ...

Stolen Away(2020)

50min per episode | Drama, Mystery, Crime, Action & Adventure
3.5/5 (with 126 votes)

Searching for his kidnapped daughter, Antonio sets off a series of events affecting scores of people when he maneuvers to be sent to prison in Colombia.

The Flower in Prison(2016)

1h per episode | Drama
2.2/5 (with 9 votes)

Jeonokseo, the most horrifying prison in Joseon, is where Ok Nyeo was born. This genius girl learns the art of living from the most eccentric people of the time. Despite the difficulties, Ok Nyeo grows up to introduce a human rights institution of Joseon to protect the weak.

Directed by Lee Byung-hoon - With Jin Se-yeon
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