6 Movies About the Prison to Keep Your Adrenaline High

Prison is not a place you want to be, especially if you are wrongly convicted. There are many things that can happen in prison, including murders, brawls and rape as well as drugs and other crimes. It’s not the most secure place to be, and trouble will always find you even if your efforts are to avoid it. Because they give the outsider an insight into prison life, harsh realities have been great movie plots. There are both loss and thirst for freedom. There are friendships lost and gained, and the power hierarchy is still prevalent as in every society. Stories from those who have lived through prison are the best way to learn about prison life.

Fiction movies, documentaries, biographies and memoirs. These stories are so vivid that you can feel every emotion, be it anger, fear, heartache, or fear as they unfold on the movie screen. These films are just a few of the many available on Netflix.

THE PLATFORM/EL HOO (2019)

This Spanish film is a parody of modern society, with its upper-class and lower-class systems. The caste system is still in effect even in prison. This story is set in the future, where prisoners live in vertical cells. Each level contains one cell with two prisoners. Only one food platform is available and there are only two hours per day for meals. Survival is dependent on everyone, literally. The upper cells are able to enjoy lavish meals, while the lower cells suffer from starvation and have to eat scraps. This is a hellish situation, especially for the bottom cells. The movie is very similar to The Snowpiercer in that it takes place in a dystopian world where people are divided according their social status. This movie also demonstrates how greed can have devastating effects on others, especially those below him or those of the lower classes. It can also have a positive or negative ripple effect from the kindness of another person. This truth is highlighted by the Platform’s graphic, violent, and gruesome imagery. But, despite all this, the moral of the story is that greed doesn’t do any good. None at all.

Run time: 1h 34m

ESCAPE PLAN (2013)

Star-studded movie packed with adrenaline, thrill and mystery. The story is about finding the perfect escape plan, as the title suggests. This is a difficult task, especially since it involves a maximum security prison virtually unknown to the public and where the most dangerous criminals are held.

Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone) is the protagonist. He’s a structural security authority who has dedicated his entire life to making prisons inaccessible. He is hired to inspect a new facility. But once inside, he discovers that someone doesn’t want him out. He needs to find a way out, and he will need all the support he can get. The mysterious Rottmayer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is the one who offers it.

It’s an entertaining movie with a stellar cast. It’s hard to imagine two of Hollywood’s most famous action stars appearing together on the same screen. They look great together and can still kick butts. It was a well-received movie that even inspired a sequel. Unfortunately, it failed to please viewers like the original.

Run Time: 1h 55m

A TWELVE YEAR NIGHT/LA NOCHE DE 12 ANOS (2018)

It is 1973, and Uruguay is in military dictatorship. Three left-wing urban guerilla groups, the Tupamaros, are being held hostage in their cells. Someone tortures them mentally and physically for 12 years. It is clear: “As they can’t kill, let’s drive their mad.”

The men are kept in isolation for more than a decade and are shuffled around from one cell to the next, without any sun or sense of time. As the years pass, they are doused with gasoline and manipulated by guards. Their physical and mental health gradually declines.

Flashbacks and hallucinations are a way to give context to the three men who continue their isolation. Jose “Pepe”, also known as Antonio de la Torre, is one of these men. He later became the president of Uruguay between 2010 and 2015.

This film is sometimes hard and disturbing to watch albeit it is based on the real-life experiences of the protagonists/prisoners. You can feel the terror, anguish and pain felt by these actors. As their lives are reshaped, you’d feel their hope and love.

Run Time: 2h 2m

THE FEAR OF 13 (2015)

Nick Yarris shares his story in this compelling documentary about his 21-years on death row for a crime he didn’t commit. He takes the viewers back to his youth, telling them about his life as an illegal thief that eventually made him a victim. He was finally released from prison in 2004 after DNA testing. His resilience, his thirst for knowledge inside prison walls and his determination not to let his predicament make him the monster that the legal system portrays him as, are some of the reasons he was able to get out of jail. Yarris is a great storyteller, and captivates his audience with his wisdom words and charisma. He was able to change the course of his imprisonment by his intellectual growth. After writing to a judge asking for an execution, he saved himself.

Run Time: 1h 36m

THE GREEN MILE (1999)

This prison movie is one of the most memorable. It makes you believe in the supernatural at the same time. The story, which is based on a Stephen King novel, takes place in the 1930s. It centers on the lives the death row guards as they are surprisingly affected from one of their charges.

John Coffey is played by Michael Clarke Duncan. He is wrongly convicted for child murder and rape. He also has a gift for healing that is not known to anyone at first. This is what a certain Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks), discovers later in the story.

As they believe Coffey is innocent, the guards find themselves in a moral quandary. Although he may be strong enough to kill anyone, his shyness and naivety suggest otherwise. They can only do so much because the law is against them.

The Green Mile is as emotionally riveting as the book. The movie adaptation of the novel is just as captivating. With a stellar cast, Frank Darabont did justice to the novel by keeping the book’s important details out and telling a compelling story.

Run Time: 3h 9m

THE SHAWSHANK RELEASE (1994)

Another Stephen King adaptation by Frank Darabont. The story forces you to question your judgments based on superficial matters. The story follows Andy Dufresne, a former banker who is now in prison for murdering his wife and her lover. He is sent to Shawshank prison house where he makes friends with Red (Morgan Freeman), a fellow inmate. Andy is innocent. He must accept his new reality. In just 19 years, he has survived the harsh prison conditions, learned to adapt, made friends, and celebrated the simplest of accomplishments. The Shawshank Redemption is a charming and positive film that has just the right amount of darkness. As Andy learns how to navigate his life and see it through a different lens, it is a testament to humanity.

Run time: 2h 22m