You’ll get all the motivation needed to keep yourself out of the trouble after watching one of the documentaries featured on our list of best American prison life documentaries.
According to Prison Policy, there are 2.3 million people incarcerated in the United States in 102 federal prisons and 1,719 state prisons including correctional facilities and other jails. This high number of prisoners could be attributed to 440,000 persons in local jails that are yet to be convicted. Nevertheless, the country has the most prisoners in the whole world and also the highest per 100,000 prison rate of 724. For comparison, China has 1.54 million prisoners and rate of 118 while Russia has 0.87 million and rate of 615. The state prisons in the United States are home to 1.3 million persons, most of them serving time for violent, property and drug related crimes. Federal prisons have 197,000 prisoners who mostly serve time for public order and drug related crimes. After seeing these numbers, one could argue that the United States should think about criminal justice reforms and strongly rethink their War on Drugs policy.
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Conditions in American prisons are far from satisfying. Some would think that the prisoners don’t deserve more, but still no matter the crime, some standards should be respected. I think the lack of freedom is penalty harsh enough. The prisons are overcrowded, most of them lack basic medical care and there are often physical confrontations between inmates. We don’t say it’s like the TV show Oz, but it’s surely not far away from it. If you want to learn more about prisons in general and get a realistic depiction, check out our list of 7 Best Prison Documentaries on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and YouTube.
In order to create the list of best American prison life documentaries, we looked through prison-themed documentaries including recommendations from Prison Photography and Quora and singled out those that depict life in American prisons. These documentaries were then ranked based on their IMDb rating. Shall’ we begin with the list?
8. Solitary: Inside Red Onion State Prison
IMDb Rating: 7.3
Red Onion State Prison is one of the harshest prisons in the United States, where most of the prisoners spend 23 hours a day in tiny cells that get fractions of sunlight. This documentary is one of the rare opportunities for you to see the rough life of inmates in this prison. It depicts their everyday life while also featuring interviews with people who work in the prison.
7. The Dhamma Brothers
IMDb Rating: 7.5
This is one rather unusual documentary. The Dhamma Brothers follows four inmates convicted of murder, who participate in prison meditation program in Donaldson Correctional Facility, Alabama. The documentary includes interviews with the inmates as well as the guards and prison officials.
6. The Farm: Angola, USA
IMDb Rating: 7.6
Released in 1998, this documentary was nominated for the Academy Award and won multiple other awards for best documentary feature including Emmy and Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival. It talks about the life of 6 inmates incarcerated in Louisiana State Penitentiary aka Angola, maximum security prison. The documentary follows their daily life in prison and features multiple interviews including one with an inmate expecting a death sentence. The follow-up documentary titled The Farm: 10 Down, explores the lives of the inmates 10 years after.
5. Shakespeare Behind Bars
IMDb Rating: 7.6
We are continuing our list of best American prison life documentaries with Shakespeare Behind Bars that offers a bit brighter portrayal of life in American prisons. It follows a group of 20 inmates from Luther Luckett Correctional Facility preparing to perform one of the plays of William Shakespeare. The documentary doesn’t just follow their rehearsals but also enables you to meet the prisoners and find more about their personal and prison life.
4. Louis Theroux: Behind Bars
IMDb Rating: 7.8
This made for TV documentary follows English filmmaker Louis Theroux as he visits the notorious San Quentin prison. There he documents the life of inmates in the prison through interviews and videos, while also talking to the guards of the prison who offer their take on life behind bars.
3. Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall
IMDb Rating: 7.8
Taking place at Iowa State Penitentiary, this entry on our list of best American prison life documentaries depicts the last 6 months of life of terminally ill inmate Jack Hall. It also focuses on the prisoners who volunteer to take care of Jack and try to make his last days on Earth more bearable.
2. Serving Life
IMDb Rating: 7.9
Narrated by Forrest Whitaker and produced by Oprah Winfrey, this documentary talks about the volunteer inmates in Angola prison who run their own hospice. In a prison where the average sentence is more than 90 years, these men decided to take care about their dying fellow inmates and show that there is still humanity left inside these walls.
1. Mothers of Bedford
IMDb Rating: 9.0
The last entry on our list of best American prison life documentaries follows five women incarcerated in maximum security prison called Bedford Hills Correctional Facility and located in New York. The filmmaker Jenifer McShane spent four years documenting their life. The documentary especially focuses on the fact that all five women are mothers and tries to explore women’s relationships with their children and families.
