Movies and series about prisons have always been popular among fans of the audiovisual world. And it is that the problems that the characters find behind bars have been a source of inspiration for directors, actors and viewers.
We are talking about protagonists and characters, who, despite the fact that if they are there it is for a reason, we tend to empathize with them for their struggle and survival. In addition, in the stories that are told from inside the cell, there are many positive aspects, such as loyalty, courage, friendship…
Well, thanks to Netflixwe will be able to enjoy today of the prison world from our comfortable sofa. Luckily, fans of prison cinema have a wide catalog in which they can choose on this subject from comedy to absolute drama and we are going to show you the most recommended.
If you fall into this category, take a look at the following list of some of the best prison movies and series available on Netflix.
7 movies and series about prisons on Netflix:
Orange is the New Black (2013)
Orange Is the New Black is probably the best known series on this list and recommended. And it is that, no list of Netflix prison series will be complete without this one.
Based on Piper Kerman’s memoir, the story revolves around Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), who is sentenced to 15 months in a minimum security prison, due to her past life involving drug smuggling along with her lover.
Being her first time in prison, little by little she will learn to adapt to her surroundings and establish relationships that could get her into trouble in the future.
The first few seasons of this series are so engaging and well written that you won’t be able to take your eyes off them. But then it loses its charm and becomes something heavier, although if you are a fan of this one, we will find little objectivity (myself included).
It currently has seven seasons (already finished), so catch up on all its episodes on the star platform.
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The Hole (2019)
We’re going with a Spanish. Here we find ourselves before a dystopian thriller, where the main setting that we are going to see and where the stories unfold is a vertical prison one hundred stories high that houses two inmates per cell, with one cell on each floor.
The premise is simple, every day, a platform with food descends to each floor for a very short time to provide the leftovers from the upper floor. As you descend to a lower floor, the availability of food decreases, since it depends on what the people on the upper floors eat.
Here the protagonist is Goreng (Iván Massagué), who wakes up in cell number 48, and we will see how, changing floors, he will have to face complex situations, always trying to escape from there and find a reason.
This is how they see us (2019)
This miniseries of the platform is going to place us in 1989 when a runner was assaulted and raped in Central Park in New York, and later five young people were accused of the crime. These five teenagers (the Central Park Five) they maintained their innocence and spent years fighting convictions, hoping to be exonerated.
As They See Us will span a set of years from when the teens are first questioned about the incident in the spring of 1989, through their release in 2022, and finally the settlement reached with New York City in 2014.
expose the entrenched racism of the time and raises a number of issues that remain relevant in the current social and political climate.
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Inside the World’s Most Dangerous Prisons (2016)
The name of this Netflix prison series is self explanatory. It explores some of the most dangerous prisons in the presentand a couple of the nicest, from around the world.
Presenters enter these prisons as voluntary inmates to offer an inside view of what it feels like and shows how bad some people have it.
The first season was presented by Paul Connolly, who was replaced by Raphael Rowe in the remaining four, who was already a prisoner for 12 years for a crime he did not commit. Now it will be him, who also has experience, who must function in prison.
Of course, this series is not recommended for minors, so imagine everything that can be seen.
Prison Playbook (2017)
Prison Playbook is a South Korean comedy-drama series that revolves around the life of a baseball pitcher who is almost at the peak of his career but somehow ends up in jail after trying to protect her sister from sexual assault.
His life, therefore, will take a 180º turn and now he will have to learn to survive and adapt to the prison environment. This series is going to deal with this theme of prison from the absolute comedy, with the occasional dramatic point, yes.
According to the occasional reviewer, you may even find it hard to watch American series again after watching this one, because it sets the bar very high. We leave you the link so you can get down to work, although it only has one season.
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The night of 12 years (2018)
This Netflix movie has received positive reviews since it was released, whose director is Álvaro Brechner. In it we are going to find ourselves in Uruguay, 1973 and a military dictatorship. One autumn night, three Tupamaro prisoners will be taken from their cells in a secret military operation.
The order with which they are removed is quite clear: “Since we can’t kill them, we’re going to drive them crazy”. This is then when These three men will remain incommunicado, tied up and relieving themselves in small dwellings for twelve years.
Note that among them is Pepe Mujica, who will later be president of Uruguay.
If you are interested in seeing the psychological side of prison, this movie will excite you, because it shows the mental struggles of prisoners to stay sane. In addition, it realistically portrays the problems within the prison walls, and you will probably be able to understand and imagine this kind of life better than ever.
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In My Own Skin (2018)
With the ultimate goal of finding the truth, the family of Stefano Cucchi, the prisoner who died in unexplained circumstances, tries to find out what happened to him.
This rather hard-to-watch Italian drama follows the life of a young convict who ended up in prison on minor drug charges. Nevertheless, it began to look like someone had hit him; he lost weight and finally and without even noticing his surroundings, he died.
This is where his family comes in who, trying to find out what happened to their relative, will have to push the limits to find out the truth. You can enjoy it, how could it be otherwise, on Netflix.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism