Crime journalist Raphael Rowe goes behind the bars of some of the world’s most notorious and toughest prisons. Immersing himself in maximum security facilities around the world to live as a prisoner, he encounters the inmates locked up for their crimes and meets the men and women on the right side of law tasked with keeping the criminals behind bars.
Himself
Paul Connolly journeys inside deplorable prisons in Poland, Mexico, Honduras and the Philippines to experience their barbaric conditions first hand.
4 episodes
Paul Connolly heads to Honduras, the murder capital of the world, to spend a week living as a prisoner inside one of the most dangerous prisons - Danli Prison.
Runtime: 44 minConnolly serves time in Poland's Piotrkow prison, a maximun security lockup where the country's most hardened criminals stay in cells 23 hours a day.
Runtime: 44 minMexico's el Hongo prison is home to murderers, hitmen, drug bossess and -- for one week -- Paul Connolly, who experiences life among the inmates.
Runtime: 44 minConnolly spends time in two different prisons in the Philippines, where overcrowding, gangs and severe intimidation are a way of life.
Runtime: 44 minRaphael Rowe, who spent 12 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit, investigates some of the world's toughest prisons from the inside.
4 episodes
Investigative journalist Raphael Rowe spends a few days -- both as a guard and a prisoner -- inside Brazil's gang-filled Porto Velho Penitentiary.
Runtime: 54 minUkraine's Zhytomyr Prison is operated with a skeleton crew that allows prisoners to freely roam the grounds -- often with potentially dangerous weapons.
Runtime: 51 minRaphael Rowe visits the short-staffed Bomana Prison in Papua New Guinea, where near-constant food shortages keep the facility on the brink of chaos.
Runtime: 51 minIn Belize Central Prison, the inmates are told that rehabilitation comes through God. Raphael Rowe investigates if this evangelical approach works.
Runtime: 51 minInvestigative journalist Raphael Rowe, who was once wrongfully convicted of murder, visits prisons in Colombia, Costa Rica, Romania and Norway.
4 episodes
Though he's no stranger to life behind bars, Raphael Rowe concedes that Costa Rica's La Reforma Prison is certainly among the most intimidating.
Runtime: 47 minWhile spending a week inside Bogotá's fortress-like prison, Raphael Rowe must negotiate the oppressive atmosphere and deal with an ominous threat.
Runtime: 47 minRaphael Rowe spends a week at a maximum security prison in Craiova, Romania, where the inmates include rapists, murderers and contract killers.
Runtime: 48 minMany prisons aim to punish and demean inmates. Norway's Halden Prison -- as Raphael Rowe is about to see for himself -- does things differently.
Runtime: 48 minJournalist Raphael Rowe lives like an inmate while investigating dangerous prisons in Paraguay, Germany, Mauritius and Lesotho.
4 episodes
Raphael Rowe spends a week behind bars at Tacumbu prison in Paraguay, where inmates scrounge in the trash in order to pay their own way.
Runtime: 48 minSchwalmstadt, a 12th-century fortress surrounded by a moat, houses some of Germany's worst offenders, many of whom attend intense therapy sessions.
Runtime: 45 minThe tropical island of Mauritius is home to Melrose maximum security prison, where even the smallest infraction is met with extreme punishment.
Runtime: 47 minAn unnerved Rowe contends with aggressive cellmates at Maseru prison, where a high number of inmates are behind bars for rape.
Runtime: 48 minRaphael Rowe, who spent years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, volunteers to go behind bars in the Philippines, Greenland and South Africa.
3 episodes
At Brandvlei Correctional Centre in South Africa, nearly all the convicts belong to dangerous gangs known for lethal stabbings.
Runtime: 52 minOnce again, Raphael Rowe volunteers to go behind bars, this time in the Philippines at Manila City Jail, one of the world's most overcrowded prisons.
Runtime: 52 minGreenland's Nuuk maximum security prison houses extremely dangerous prisoners, many of whom grew up alongside the guards now watching over them.
Runtime: 48 minWrongfully convicted former inmate Raphael Rowe continues his investigation of formidable prisons in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Greece and Moldova.
4 episodes
Journalist and former inmate Raphael Rowe experiences life inside prisons in Finland, the Czech Republic, Indonesia and the Solomon Islands.
4 episodes
At Finland's Kylmäkoski prison, Raphael meets violent offenders in the general population wing and bonds with the inmates, while a newcomer is attacked.
Runtime: 45 minSurrounded by many inmates who struggle with crystal meth addiction, Raphael enters the Pilsen prison and discovers that some habits are hard to break.
Runtime: 47 minRaphael gets a rare look inside Bangli prison, where drug offenders are forced to join a rehabilitation program and isolation is used as punishment.
Runtime: 46 minAt the Rove maximum security prison, many of the inmates serve time for sexual offenses while navigating grim conditions and extremely limited resources.
Runtime: 47 minInside the World’s Toughest Prisons (Season 5) | Official Trailer | Netflix