Prison Movies

List of the best movies about jail and prisoners, showing life and jailbreak: The Experiment, The Shawshank Redemption, Prison Break: The Final Break, Escape From Pretoria, The Next Three Days, Papillon, Animal Factory, Starred Up, Riot, A Man Escaped.

In the top there are new films of 2022, a plot description and trailers for films that have already been released.

Genre
Country
Markimdb: 7.7
Genrethriller, drama
CountryGermany
Duration01:54

Das Experiment is a shocking psycho thriller about the potential for brutality that humans hide. Even more shocking is the fact that it’s based on an actual occurrence—a 1971 psychological experiment at Stanford University that was aborted prematurely when the experimenters lost control.

Markimdb: 9.3
Genredrama
CountryUSA
Duration02:22

Framed in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.

Markimdb: 7.8
Genreaction, thriller, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:23

The movie covers the events which occurred in between the downfall of The Company and the finale of the series. It details the arrest and incarceration of Sara Tancredi, the final escape plan which Michael devises for Sara. It also reveals the ultimate fate of Gretchen Morgan.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genrethriller
CountryUnited Kingdom, Australia, USA, South Africa, Germany

South Africa, 1978. Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee, two white political activists from the African National Congress imprisoned by the apartheid regime, put a plan in motion to escape from the infamous Pretoria Prison.

Markimdb: 7.3
Genreaction, thriller, melodrama, drama, crime
CountryUSA, France
Duration02:13

    A married couple's life is turned upside down when the wife is accused of a murder. Lara Brennan is arrested for murdering her boss with whom she had an argument. It seems she was seen leaving the scene of the crime and her fingerprints were on the murder weapon. Her husband, John would spend the next few years trying to get her released, but there's no evidence that negates the evidence against her. And when the strain of being separated from her family, especially her son, gets to her, John decides to break her out. So he does a lot of research to find a way.

    Markimdb: 7.2
    Genredrama, adventure, crime, biography
    CountryUSA, Czech Republic, Spain
    Duration01:00

    Henri “Papillon” Charrière, a safecracker from the Parisian underworld, is wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal colony of French Guiana, where he forges a strong friendship with Louis Dega, a counterfeiter who needs his protection.

    Duration01:31

    Suburbanite Ron is spoiled, young and not overly worried about the marijuana charges leveled against him. But, after being made out to be a drug dealer, he faces a five-year jail sentence in San Quentin State Prison. Physically frail and unaccustomed to his rough surroundings, Ron is primed to fall victim to sexual predators and bullying guards – that is, until he's befriended by Earl, a veteran inmate who finds meaning in protecting the vulnerable new kid.

    Markimdb: 7.4
    Genredrama, crime
    CountryUnited Kingdom
    Duration01:46

    19-year-old Eric, arrogant and ultra-violent, is prematurely transferred to the same adult prison facility as his estranged father. As his explosive temper quickly finds him enemies in both prison authorities and fellow inmates — and his already volatile relationship with his father is pushed past breaking point — Eric is approached by a volunteer psychotherapist, who runs an anger management group for prisoners. Torn between gang politics, prison corruption, and a glimmer of something better, Eric finds himself in a fight for his own life, unsure if his own father is there to protect him or join in punishing him.

    Markimdb: 5.2
    Genreaction
    CountryUSA

    Copper Jack Stone purposefully orchestrates a bank robbery in order to be thrown into prison with the notorious Russian kingpin Balam. Balam is more than just a mob criminal; he's a very cunning and dangerous lord who controls the police force from behind bars. Balam lives in prison as a cover for his real power, which is King of the city. His cell is a lavish private room built specifically for him, inaccessible to most in the depths of the prison structure. Even the warden fears venturing into his area of the prison. However, even surrounded by his loyal henchmen and guards in his sectioned off fortress, Balam doesn't know Jack is coming for him to avenge his family, who Balam murdered in cold blood. Balam is tough... but Jack is tougher.

    Markimdb: 8.3
    Genrethriller, drama, military
    CountryFrance

    A captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from prison.

    Markimdb: 5.8
    Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime, detective
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:40

    When Baton Rouge police detective Bud Carter busts contract killer Jesse Weiland, he convinces Jesse to become an informant and rat out the South's most powerful crime ring.

    Markimdb: 6.4
    Genrethriller, drama
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:44

    A teenage boy is sent to a juvenile reform facility in the wilderness. As we learn about the tragic events that sent him there, his struggle becomes one for survival with the inmates, counselors, and the retired war colonel in charge.

    Markimdb: 7
    Genreaction, drama, crime
    CountryUSA, Mexico
    Duration01:36

      A career criminal (Gibson) nabbed by Mexican authorities is placed in a tough prison where he learns to survive with the help of a 9-year-old boy.

      Markimdb: 5.6
      Genreaction, crime
      CountrySoviet Union
      Duration01:28

      Saveliy Govorkov, an Afghanistan war veteran tries to fight mafia in his own town.

      Markimdb: 6.2
      Genreaction, comedy
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:44

        Rob Schneider writes and stars in this comedy about a nerdy con man whose swindling ways land him a stiff prison sentence. Terrified at the prospect of being raped in prison he enlists the aid of a mysterious kung-fu expert to teach him how to fight.

        Genredrama
        Duration03:09

        A supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the cellblock's head guard, Paul Edgecomb, recognizes Coffey's miraculous gift, he tries desperately to help stave off the condemned man's execution.

        Markimdb: 7.3
        Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
        CountryUSA

        A newly-released prison gangster is forced by the leaders of his gang to orchestrate a major crime with a brutal rival gang on the streets of Southern California.

        Markimdb: 7.1
        Genredrama, crime, biography
        CountryUnited Kingdom, Cayman Islands, Denmark, USA
        Duration01:32

        A young man who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending 30 years in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter ego, Charles Bronson.

        Markimdb: 7.5
        Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
        CountryNorway, France, Sweden, Poland
        Duration01:56

        Based on a true story: Norwegian winter, 1915. On the island Bastøy, outside Oslo, a group of young boys aged 11 to 18, are held in an institution for delinquent youth, notorious for its sadistic regime. One day a new boy, Erling, arrives, determined to escape from the island. After a tragic incident, he ends up leading the boys in a violent uprising. When the boys manage to take over the island, 150 soldiers are sent in to restore order.

        Markimdb: 7.1
        Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
        CountryUSA
        Duration01:46

        After working as a drug courier and getting into a brutal shootout with police, a former boxer finds himself at the mercy of his enemies as they force him to instigate violent acts that turn the prison he resides in into a battleground.

        Markimdb: 7.9
        Genredrama, crime
        CountryFrance, Italy
        Duration02:29

        Sentenced to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim) is alone in the world and can neither read nor write. On his arrival at the prison, he seems younger and more brittle than the others detained there. At once he falls under the sway of a group of Corsicans who enforce their rule in the prison. As the 'missions' go by, he toughens himself and wins the confidence of the Corsican group.

        Markimdb: 7.1
        Genredrama, crime
        CountryUSA
        Duration02:12

        The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.

        Markimdb: 6.9
        Genreaction, thriller, crime
        CountryUSA
        Duration01:55

        When the government puts all its rotten criminal eggs in one airborne basket, it's asking for trouble. Before you can say, "Pass the barf bag," the crooks control the plane, led by creepy Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom. Watching his every move is the just-released Cameron Poe, who'd rather reunite with his family.

        Markimdb: 7.4
        Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
        CountryUSA
        Duration01:48

        A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He targets not only the killer but also the district attorney and others involved in the deal.

        Markimdb: 7
        Genrefantastic, thriller, drama
        CountrySpain

        A mysterious place, an indescribable prison, a deep hole. An unknown number of levels. Two inmates living on each level. A descending platform containing food for all of them. An inhuman fight for survival, but also an opportunity for solidarity.

        Markimdb: 6.6
        Genreaction, thriller, crime
        CountryUnited Kingdom, USA, Canada
        Duration02:34

        An ex-convict working undercover intentionally gets himself incarcerated again in order to infiltrate the mob at a maximum security prison.

        Markimdb: 7.6
        Genreaction, thriller, drama, adventure, crime
        CountrySpain, France
        Duration01:48

        The story of two men on different sides of a prison riot -- the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal.

        Markimdb: 6.2
        Genreaction, thriller, drama
        CountryUSA
        Duration01:38

        A man must survive a prison where hardened criminals battle to the death for the warden's entertainment.

        Markimdb: 7
        Genredrama, crime
        CountryFrance, Canada, United Kingdom
        Duration01:31

          Three juvenile delinquents arrive at a correctional center and are put under the care of an experienced guard.

          Markimdb: 7.6
          Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime, biography
          CountryUSA
          Duration01:52

          Escape from Alcatraz tells the story of the only three men ever to escape from the infamous maximum security prison at Alcatraz. In 29 years, the seemingly impenetrable federal penitentiary, which housed Al Capone and "Birdman" Robert Stroud, was only broken once - by three men never heard of again.

          Markimdb: 6.8
          Genreaction, drama, crime, biography, sport
          CountryUnited Kingdom, France, China, Cambodia, USA, Germany
          Duration02:05

          The true story of Billy Moore, an English boxer incarcerated in Thailand's most notorious prison. Thrown into a world of drugs and violence, he finds his best chance to escape is to fight his way out in Muay Thai tournaments.

          Markimdb: 7.4
          Genreaction, thriller, adventure
          CountryUSA
          Duration02:16

          FBI chemical warfare expert Stanley Goodspeed is sent on an urgent mission with a former British spy, John Patrick Mason, to stop Gen. Francis X. Hummel from launching chemical weapons on Alcatraz Island into San Francisco. Gen. Hummel demands $100 million in war reparations to be paid to the families of slain servicemen who died on covert operations. After their SEAL team is wiped out, Stanley and John deal with the soldiers on their own.

          Markimdb: 7.8
          Genredrama, crime, biography
          CountryUSA
          Duration02:27

          After killing a prison guard, convict Robert Stroud faces life imprisonment in solitary confinement. Driven nearly mad by loneliness and despair, Stroud's life gains new meaning when he happens upon a helpless baby sparrow in the exercise yard and nurses it back to health. Despite having only a third grade education, Stroud goes on to become a renowned ornithologist and achieves a greater sense of freedom and purpose behind bars than most people find in the outside world.

          Markimdb: 7.5
          Genredrama, crime
          CountryUnited Kingdom, USA
          Duration02:02

          A justice drama based on a true story about a man on death row who in his last days forms a strong relationship with a nun who teaches him forgiveness and gives him spirituality as she accompanies him to his execution.

          Markimdb: 6.2
          Genreaction, drama, crime, sport
          CountryUSA, Germany, Japan
          Duration01:36

            Monroe Hutchens is the heavyweight champion of Sweetwater, a maximum security prison. He was convicted to a life sentence due to a passionate crime. Iceman Chambers is the heavyweight champion, who lost his title due to a rape conviction to ten years in Sweetwater. WHen these two giants collide in the same prison, they fight against each other disputing who is the real champion.

            Markimdb: 7.1
            Genredrama, biography, history
            CountryGermany, France, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, USA
            Duration01:05

            A young woman's desperate search for her abducted boyfriend that draws her into the infamous Colonia Dignidad, a sect nobody ever escaped from.

            Markimdb: 7.5
            Genrethriller, drama, crime, biography
            CountryUnited Kingdom, USA
            Duration02:01

            Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of Turkey. The Turkish courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".

            Markimdb: 6.9
            Genreaction, thriller, drama
            CountryUSA
            Duration02:11

            A Court Martialed general rallies together 1200 inmates to rise against the system that put him away.

            Markimdb: 8.5
            Genrethriller, drama, crime
            CountryFrance, Italy

            Four prison inmates have been hatching a plan to literally dig out of jail when another prisoner, Claude Gaspard, is moved into their cell. They take a risk and share their plan with the newcomer. Over the course of three days, the prisoners and friends break through the concrete floor using a bed post and begin to make their way through the sewer system -- yet their escape is anything but assured.

            Markimdb: 6.8
            Genredrama
            CountryFrance, Belgium, USA
            Duration02:24

            While participating in a rehabilitation program training wild mustangs, a convict at first struggles to connect with the horses and his fellow inmates, but he learns to confront his violent past as he soothes an especially feisty horse.

            Markimdb: 8.2
            Genreaction, drama, military, history
            CountryUSA
            Duration02:52

            The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocates them to a high-security 'escape-proof' camp to sit out the remainder of the war. Undaunted, the prisoners plan one of the most ambitious escape attempts of World War II. Based on a true story.

            Markimdb: 7.1
            Genrefantastic, action, thriller, adventure
            CountryUSA, United Kingdom
            Duration01:39

            In 1997, the island of Manhattan has been walled off and turned into a giant maximum security prison within which the country's worst criminals are left to form their own anarchic society. However, when the President of the United States crash lands on the island, the authorities turn to a former soldier and current convict, Snake Plissken, to rescue him.

            Markimdb: 6.4
            Genreaction, thriller, comedy, crime
            CountryUSA
            Duration01:40

            Ray Tango and Gabriel Cash are narcotics detectives who, while both being extremely successful, can't stand each other. Crime Lord Yves Perret, furious at the loss of income that Tango and Cash have caused him, frames the two for murder. Caught with the murder weapon on the scene of the crime, the two have no alibi. Thrown into prison with most of the criminals they helped convict, it appears that they are going to have to trust each other if they are to clear their names and catch the evil Perret.

            Markimdb: 7.3
            Genredrama
            CountryBrazil, USA
            Duration02:00

            Luis Molina and Valentin Arregui are cell mates in a South American prison. Luis, a gay man, is found guilty of immoral behaviour and Valentin is a political prisoner. To escape reality Luis invents romantic movies, while Valentin tries to keep his mind on the situation he's in. During the time they spend together, the two men come to understand and respect one another.

            Markimdb: 7.1
            Genrecomedy, drama, crime, sport
            CountryUSA
            Duration02:01

            In this rough-and-tumble yarn, actually filmed on-location at the Georgia State Prision, the cons are the heroes and the guards are the heavies. Eddie Albert is the sadistic warden who'll gladly make any sacrifice to push his guards' semi-pro football team to a national championship.

            Markimdb: 8.5
            Genrefantastic, thriller, drama, detective
            CountryUnited Kingdom, USA
            Duration02:05

              A mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy -- full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences.

              Markimdb: 6.2
              Genredrama
              CountryUSA
              Duration01:42

              Louis Menkins is five weeks away from being released after 26 years in prison. He is faced with the decision to put his own release at risk in order to protect a young man named Beecher from growing gang controversies.

              Markimdb: 8
              Genredrama, crime, biography
              CountryFrance, USA
              Duration02:31

              A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.

              Markimdb: 8.1
              Genredrama, crime, biography
              CountryRepublic of Ireland, United Kingdom
              Duration02:13

              A small time thief from Belfast, Gerry Conlon, is falsely implicated in the IRA bombing of a pub that kills several people while he is in London. He and his four friends are coerced by British police into confessing their guilt. Gerry's father and other relatives in London are also implicated in the crime. He spends fifteen years in prison with his father trying to prove his innocence.

              Markimdb: 7.5
              Genrethriller, drama, crime, biography
              CountryRepublic of Ireland, United Kingdom
              Duration01:36

              The story of Bobby Sands, the IRA member who led the 1981 hunger strike in which Republican prisoners tried to win political status. It dramatises events in the Maze prison in the six weeks prior to Sands’ death.




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