This is a cool show for learning about different places and prisons in the world, but as others have noted, you enjoy it in small doses.
No one is going to behave the same when being watched and video-taped and you can't fully capture the realities and bleakness of this life from a tv documentary crew.
The hosts are funny, asking the same questions over and over again in every episode, and they are always treated gracefully and in a friendly manner, even by murderers, gangbangers, rapists, kingpins, and low-paid guards. This is just humorous to me, as the average man would not receive the same treatment. Of course, the prisoners and guards are talking to you and laughing, and being nice-- they are staring at cameras behind the host and have other motivations for getting their stories out, or behaving calmly for the moment. The guy talks about how dangerous and eerie it feels, and I am sure it does, but you never feel truly worried for his safety, because this is a TV show, with a visible crew and production.
Informative and entertaining, but there is no way to really show the horrors of this life from a scripted show, where the guards show what their superiors tell them to, and prisoners behave like country club buddies at a fundraising event. Worth a watch, but hilarious at times, unintentionally.
No one is going to behave the same when being watched and video-taped and you can't fully capture the realities and bleakness of this life from a tv documentary crew.
The hosts are funny, asking the same questions over and over again in every episode, and they are always treated gracefully and in a friendly manner, even by murderers, gangbangers, rapists, kingpins, and low-paid guards. This is just humorous to me, as the average man would not receive the same treatment. Of course, the prisoners and guards are talking to you and laughing, and being nice-- they are staring at cameras behind the host and have other motivations for getting their stories out, or behaving calmly for the moment. The guy talks about how dangerous and eerie it feels, and I am sure it does, but you never feel truly worried for his safety, because this is a TV show, with a visible crew and production.
Informative and entertaining, but there is no way to really show the horrors of this life from a scripted show, where the guards show what their superiors tell them to, and prisoners behave like country club buddies at a fundraising event. Worth a watch, but hilarious at times, unintentionally.