Prison movies I've watched so far
Prison movies
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116 titles
- DirectorFrank DarabontStarsTim RobbinsMorgan FreemanBob GuntonOver the course of several years, two convicts form a friendship, seeking consolation and, eventually, redemption through basic compassion.
- DirectorTony KayeStarsEdward NortonEdward FurlongBeverly D'AngeloLiving a life marked by violence, neo-Nazi Derek finally goes to prison after killing two black youths. Upon his release, Derek vows to change; he hopes to prevent his brother, Danny, who idolizes Derek, from following in his footsteps.
- DirectorDaniel MonzónStarsLuis TosarAlberto AmmannAntonio ResinesThe 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.
- DirectorSteve BuscemiStarsWillem DafoeEdward FurlongDanny TrejoA young man goes to prison and a tough, older convict takes him under his wing as a mentor.
- DirectorSteve McQueenStarsMichael FassbenderLiam CunninghamStuart GrahamIrish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.
- DirectorJohn CurranStarsEdward NortonMilla JovovichRobert De NiroA convicted arsonist looks to manipulate a parole officer into a plan to secure his parole by placing his beautiful wife in the lawman's path.
- DirectorSean MathiasStarsLothaire BluteauClive OwenMick JaggerIn 1930s Berlin, a gay Jew is sent to a concentration camp under the Nazi regime.
- DirectorStuart RosenbergStarsRobert RedfordYaphet KottoMorgan FreemanThe new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.
- DirectorOliver HirschbiegelStarsMoritz BleibtreuChristian BerkelOliver StokowskiFor two weeks, 20 male participants are hired to play prisoners and guards in a prison. The "prisoners" have to follow seemingly mild rules, and the "guards" are told to retain order without using physical violence.
- DirectorPaul T. ScheuringStarsAdrien BrodyCam GigandetForest Whitaker26 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsClint EastwoodPatrick McGoohanRoberts BlossomAlcatraz is the most secure prison of its time. It is believed that no one can ever escape from it, until three daring men make a possibly successful attempt at escaping from one of the most infamous prisons in the world.
- DirectorMichael BayStarsSean ConneryNicolas CageEd HarrisA mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco.
- DirectorMarc RoccoStarsChristian SlaterKevin BaconGary OldmanAn eager and idealistic young attorney defends an Alcatraz prisoner accused of murdering a fellow inmate. The extenuating circumstances: his client had just spent over three years in solitary confinement.
- DirectorFrank DarabontStarsTom HanksMichael Clarke DuncanDavid MorseA tale set on death row, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the lead guard, Paul Edgecombe, recognizes John's gift, he tries to help stave off the condemned man's execution.
- DirectorWinfried BonengelStarsAaron HildebrandChristian BlümelJule FlierlRepentant ex neo-Nazi Ingo Hasselbach's autobiographical experiences are the basis for "Fuhrer Ex". Two friends dream of escaping the oppression of communist GDR in 1980s in Berlin. When they finally make an attempt, however, they are imprisoned. In jail, they allow themselves to be indoctrinated into the hate-fueled neo-Nazi movement to try and survive their incarceration. The question is how much they will allow the ideology to dominate them once they've been released. "Fuhrer Ex" examines the value and costs of both personal and political comradeship.
- DirectorRic Roman WaughStarsStephen DorffMarisol NicholsVincent MillerLocked up for killing an intruder in self-defense, a family man must cope with life in the violent penal system.
- DirectorJörg AndreasStarsMarcel SchluttMike SaleRalph SteelDennis is a new inmate. Mike is an older black inmate. Together the two face hostile prison officals and inmates in their attempts to become a loving couple.
- DirectorGlenn FicarraJohn RequaStarsJim CarreyEwan McGregorLeslie MannA cop turns con man once he comes out of the closet. Once imprisoned, he meets the second love of his life, whom he'll stop at nothing to be with.
- DirectorRingo LamStarsJean-Claude Van DammeLawrence TaylorLloyd BattistaA man must survive a prison where hardened criminals battle to the death for the wardens' entertainment.
- DirectorBarry SkolnickStarsVinnie JonesDavid KellyDavid HemmingsA football star jailed for assault leads a group of inmates in a match against prison guards.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsBrad DavisIrene MiracleBo HopkinsBilly Hayes, an American college student, is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison.
- DirectorGregory HoblitStarsRichard GereLaura LinneyEdward NortonAn altar boy is accused of murdering a priest, and the truth is buried several layers deep.
- CreatorPaul T. ScheuringStarsDominic PurcellWentworth MillerAmaury NolascoA structural engineer installs himself in a prison he helped design, in order to save his falsely accused brother from a death sentence by breaking themselves out from the inside.
- DirectorDarren FlaxstoneChristian MartinStarsDaniel BrocklebankGarry SummersBernie HodgesFather Jack is imprisoned for a crime that he has committed. The inmates suspect him of paedophilia and begin to persuade his teenage cellmate of this. His true crime is confessed to a prison guard with whom Jack has fallen in love.
- DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsRobert De NiroKevin BaconBrad PittAfter a prank goes disastrously wrong, a group of boys are sent to a detention center where they are brutalized. Thirteen years later, an unexpected random encounter with a former guard gives them a chance for revenge.
- DirectorMasayuki SuôStarsRyô KaseAsaka SetoKôji YamamotoA young man is falsely accused of molesting a high-school girl on a train. He is arrested and charged, and goes through endless court sessions, all the while insisting that he is innocent.
- DirectorRupert WyattStarsBrian CoxDamian LewisJoseph FiennesFrank is 14 years into a life sentence when he decides to break out of the London prison to set things right with his ill junkie daughter. He plans an ingenious escape requiring 4 inmates with different skills.
- DirectorMark HermanStarsAsa ButterfieldDavid ThewlisRupert FriendThrough the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.
- DirectorRod LurieStarsRobert RedfordJames GandolfiniMark RuffaloA court-martialed General rallies together twelve hundred inmates to rise against a corrupt and sadistic warden.
- DirectorPeter SegalStarsAdam SandlerBurt ReynoldsChris RockPrison inmates form a football team to challenge the prison guards.
- DirectorLamont JohnsonStarsBrian KeithHelmut GriemIan HendryDuring WW2, German POWs in Britain plot to escape from their prison camp in Scotland.
- DirectorReg TravissStarsJames D'ArcyNoel ClarkeFrank HarperThe film is a semi-biographical story based on the experiences of former prison guard Ronnie Thompson who spent seven years working in some of the UK's most dangerous prisons. Based on Thompson's book of the same name, the project stars James D'Arcy (Master & Commander), Noel Clarke (Kidulthood), Frank Harper (The Football Factory), Jamie Foreman (Layer Cake), Andrew Shim (This Is England) and Kate Magowan (Stardust). The story revolves around former soldier Sam Norwood who takes a job as a prison officer when he returns from Iraq and becomes exposed to the underworld of prison culture - including corrupt guards and drug trafficking.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsKurt RussellLee Van CleefErnest BorgnineIn 1997, when the U.S. president crashes into Manhattan, now a giant maximum security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in to rescue him.
- DirectorF. Gary GrayStarsGerard ButlerJamie FoxxLeslie BibbA frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free.
- DirectorDaniel ZirilliStarsTony SchienaRashad EvansVinnie JonesDanny, a respected cop, is setup after an investigation goes wrong. While laying low in his new jail cell, Danny is forced to get involved in the inmates underground cage fighting circuit. With the help of Irving, a former mixed martial arts champion, Danny devises a scheme to bring justice and innocence to his family's name, if he can get out of the cage alive.
- DirectorBob OdenkirkStarsDax ShepardWill ArnettChi McBrideWhen a career criminal's plan for revenge is thwarted by unlikely circumstances, he puts his intended victim's son in his place by putting him in prison...and then joining him.
- CreatorTom FontanaStarsErnie HudsonJ.K. SimmonsLee TergesenA series chronicling the daily activities of an unusual prison facility and its criminal inhabitants.
- DirectorArchie MayoMichael CurtizStarsJames CagneyMadge EvansArthur ByronFive members of a teen-age gang, including leader Jimmy Smith, are sent to the state reformatory, presided over by the melodramatically callous Thompson. Soon, Patsy Gargan, a former gangster appointed deputy commissioner as a political favor, arrives - complete with hip flask and blonde. Gargan falls for activist nurse Dorothy and, inspired by her, takes over the administration to run the place on radical principles. But Thompson, to conceal his years of graft, needs a quick way to discredit Gargan.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsDavid BowieTom ContiRyuichi SakamotoDuring WWII, a British colonel tries to bridge the cultural divides between a British POW and the Japanese camp commander in order to avoid bloodshed.
- DirectorRob SchneiderStarsRob SchneiderDavid CarradineSally KirklandA weak con man panics when he learns he's going to prison for fraud. He hires a mysterious martial arts guru who helps transform him into a martial arts expert who can fight off inmates who want to hurt or love him.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsFrançois LeterrierCharles Le ClaincheMaurice BeerblockA captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from a German prison in France.
- DirectorD.W. BrownStarsNick StahlDash MihokOlivia WildeA decent but troubled young man is sent to a psychiatric institution for the criminally insane and soon finds himself in a fight for his life battling ghosts inside his head and very real enemies all around him.
- DirectorPeter YatesStarsTom SelleckF. Murray AbrahamLaila RobinsA man is framed by two corrupt cops for drugs. After he gets out of prison, he comes after them.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsLeonardo DiCaprioEmily MortimerMark RuffaloTeddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, two US marshals, are sent to an asylum on a remote island in order to investigate the disappearance of a patient, where Teddy uncovers a shocking truth about the place.
- DirectorNeil JordanStarsRobert De NiroSean PennDemi MooreTwo fugitives pass themselves off as priests in the hope of evading capture and passing the police blockade at the border with Canada.
- DirectorKim ChapironStarsAdam ButcherShane KippelMatthew MoralesThree juvenile delinquents are sentenced to a correctional facility where they encounter gang violence, death, and harassment from staff and other inmates.
- DirectorWolfgang PetersenStarsJürgen ProchnowErnst HannawaldWerner SchwuchowThomas, the son of a prison warden, falls for and seduces inmate Martin. When Martin is released from jail, they try to build a relationship and a life together but no one will let them alone.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogRichard LopezMichael PerryConversations with death row inmate Michael Perry and those affected by his crime serve as an examination of why people - and the state - kill.
- CreatorSteven LilienElizabeth SarnoffBryan WynbrandtStarsSarah JonesJorge GarciaJonny CoyneIn 1963, all the prisoners and guards mysteriously disappear from Alcatraz. In the present day, they resurface and a secret agency are tasked with re-capturing them.
- DirectorAdrian GrunbergStarsMel GibsonKevin BalmoreDaniel Giménez CachoA career criminal nabbed by Mexican authorities is placed in a tough prison where he learns to survive with the help of a young boy.
- DirectorNathan MorlandoStarsScott SpeedmanKelly ReillyKevin DurandWWII vet Eddie Boyd is torn between providing for his young family and an unfulfilled dream of becoming a Hollywood star. He discovers a way to do both, but his dream leads him down a path of danger and tragedy.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisPete PostlethwaiteAlison CrosbieAn Irish man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. Meanwhile, a British lawyer fights to clear their names and free them.
- DirectorJan HryniakStarsPiotr AdamczykMarian DziedzielAndrzej ChyraKidnappers demand six million in ransom, but the United Nations does not negotiate with terrorists. One of the best counterfeiters is serving a lengthy prison term and the agent who arrested him needs his help.
- DirectorRoss MacGibbonStarsAlan VincentSaranne CurtinWill KempA mysterious stranger arrives in a small town community, leading the locals into greed, sex and murder.
- DirectorOlivier MarchalStarsGérard LanvinTchéky KaryoDaniel DuvalAfter growing up in a poor gypsy camp, Edmond Vidal, aka Momon, has retained a sense of family, unfailing loyalty and pride in his origins. Most of all, he has remained friends with Serge Suttel, with whom he first discovered prison life - for stealing cherries. The two of them inevitably got involved in organized crime. The team they formed, the Gang Des Lyonnais, made them the most notorious armed robbers of the early 1970s. Their irresistible rise ended in 1974 with a spectacular arrest. Today, as he nears 60, Momon would like to forget that part of his life. He has found peace by retiring from the "business". He tends to his wife Janou, who suffered so in the past, and to his children and grandchildren, all of whom have great respect for this man of simple and universal values, so clear-headed and full of kindness. But then Serge Suttel, who has disowned nothing of his past, comes back into the picture.
- DirectorMarius HolstStarsBenjamin HelstadTrond NilssenStellan SkarsgårdNorwegian winter, early 20th century. On the boys home Bastoy, a new inmate leads the boys to a violent uprising against a brutal regime. How far is he willing to go to attain freedom?
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsWilliam DieterleGunnar TolnæsMary JohnsonA young man is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a term in prison. There he forms a close relationship with his cellmate and upon his release his wife is concerned as to how prison has changed the man she married.
- DirectorVolker SchlöndorffStarsUlrich MatthesAugust DiehlHilmar ThateA drama loosely based on Jean Bernard's Nazi-era prison diary.
- DirectorStefan RuzowitzkyStarsKarl MarkovicsAugust DiehlDevid StriesowThe story of the Operation Bernhard, the largest counterfeiting operation in history, carried out by Germany during World War II.
- DirectorStuart RosenbergStarsPaul NewmanGeorge KennedyStrother MartinA laid-back Southern man is sentenced to two years in a rural prison, but refuses to conform.
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsSteve McQueenDustin HoffmanVictor JoryA French convict in the 1930s befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence in the South American penal colony on Devil's Island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.
- DirectorAnca DamianStarsVlad IvanovJamie SivesSandrine BonnaireWhile being in Poland, Romanian Claudio Crulic is wrongly accused of theft. In jail he goes on a hunger strike.
- DirectorPeter SheridanStarsShawn HatosyDanny DyerEamon GlancyIrish teenager political activist and future writer Brendan Behan is befriended in a British borstal (reformatory) by a liberal warden.
- DirectorPaul W.S. AndersonStarsJason StathamJoan AllenTyrese GibsonEx-con Jensen Ames is forced by the warden of a notorious prison to compete in our post-industrial world's most popular sport: a car race in which inmates must brutalize and kill one another on the road to victory.
- DirectorJohn FlynnStarsSylvester StalloneDonald SutherlandJohn AmosWith only six months left of his sentence, inmate Frank Leone is transferred from a minimum security prison to a maximum security prison by a vindictive warden.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsSean ConneryHarry AndrewsIan BannenIn a North African military prison during World War II, five new prisoners struggle to survive in the face of brutal punishment and sadistic guards.
- DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsDiane KeatonMel GibsonMatthew ModineDiane Keaton stars as a prison warden's wife who falls in love with a death row convict (Mel Gibson.) Believing he's innocent, she helps him and his convicted brother escape.
- DirectorPetr JáklStarsTatiana DykováKonstantin LavronenkoVladimír DlouhýDeals with the most famous criminal in Czech Republic, the lawyer who continuously tries to free him; the circle of people on both sides of the law who want to keep him in jail and his infamous escape from prison.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsSteve McQueenJames GarnerRichard AttenboroughAllied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsFrank SinatraTrevor HowardRaffaella CarràAn American POW leads a group of mainly British prisoners to escape from the Germans in WWII.
- DirectorJules DassinStarsBurt LancasterHume CronynCharles BickfordAt a tough penitentiary, prisoner Joe Collins plans to rebel against Captain Munsey, the power-mad chief guard.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsChristian PateySylvie Van den ElsenMichel BriguetA counterfeit bill that starts off as a schoolboy prank leads to incarceration and violence.
- DirectorRick RosenthalStarsSean PennReni SantoniJim MoodyChicago crime kid Mick O'Brien is sent to reform school after accidentally killing a rival's kid brother.
- DirectorJohn GreysonJack LewisStarsRouxnet BrownShaun SmythNeil SandilandsAn interracial gay love story set in early 18th century South Africa about two men -- a black prisoner living in a Cape Town penal colony and a Dutch sailor -- who weather injustices as a result of their affair.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsPaul MuniGlenda FarrellHelen VinsonWrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.
- DirectorMikael HåfströmStarsSylvester StalloneArnold Schwarzenegger50 CentWhen a structural-security authority finds himself set up and incarcerated in the world's most secret and secure prison, he has to use his skills to escape with help from the inside.
- DirectorMakoto KiyohiroStarsSeiji ChiharaIsao HashizumeTakuzô Kadono"Hei no Naka no Chuugakou" centers around Asahi Junior High School, which is located within Nagano Matsumoto Boy's prison in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture - the only public school in Japan that is located inside a prison. The school's students are all prisoners ranging in age from 20-70. The students are carefully selected after taking an entrance exam and being selected by the school's admission board.
- DirectorJohn DahlStarsBenjamin BrattJoseph FiennesJames FrancoTaking place towards the end of WWII, 500 American Soldiers have been entrapped in a camp for 3 years. Beginning to give up hope they will ever be rescued, a group of Rangers goes on a dangerous mission to try and save them.
- DirectorGregory HoblitStarsBruce WillisColin FarrellTerrence HowardA law student becomes a lieutenant during World War II, is captured and asked to defend a black prisoner of war falsely accused of murder.
- DirectorRobert M. YoungStarsWillem DafoeEdward James OlmosRobert LoggiaIn Greece during World War II, a young Jewish boxer, his girlfriend, and their families are sent to Auschwitz. When the camp guards learn of his boxing abilities, they force him to participate in weekly boxing matches.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsKirk DouglasHenry FondaHume CronynA charming but totally ruthless criminal is sent to a remote Arizona prison. He enlists the help of his cellmates in an escape attempt with the promise of sharing his hidden loot.
- DirectorLuke MoranStarsLuke MoranSean AstinSara PaxtonAn American soldier deployed at Abu Ghraib finds himself behind the walls of the infamous Hard Site, where he develops a secret friendship with an Iraqi detainee.
- DirectorDavid MackenzieStarsJack O'ConnellBen MendelsohnRupert FriendEric Love, 19, is locked up in prison. On his first day, he assaults another inmate and several guards. He's offered group therapy and his dad, an inmate as well, tries to talk sense into him. Can he be rehabilitated?
- DirectorRupert WyattStarsJames FrancoAndy SerkisFreida PintoA substance designed to help the brain repair itself gives advanced intelligence to a chimpanzee who leads an ape uprising.
- DirectorVincent GrashawStarsP.J. BoudousquéJames C. BurnsChris PetrovskiA 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.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsAndré BervilJean KeraudyMichel ConstantinDistrust and uncertainty arise when four long-term inmates cautiously induct a new prisoner into their elaborate prison-break scheme.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsWilliam HoldenAlec GuinnessJack HawkinsBritish POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.
- DirectorJonathan TeplitzkyStarsColin FirthNicole KidmanStellan SkarsgårdA former British Army officer, who was tortured as a prisoner of war at a Japanese labor camp during World War II, discovers that the man responsible for much of his treatment is still alive and sets out to confront him.
- DirectorCraig MonahanStarsHugo WeavingDon HanyXavier SamuelInspired by true events, HEALING is a story of redemption, the discovery of hope and the healing of the spirit - in the most unlikely place for the most unlikely men.
- DirectorAngelina JolieStarsJack O'ConnellMiyaviDomhnall GleesonAfter a near-fatal plane crash in WWII, Olympian Louis Zamperini spends a harrowing 47 days in a raft with two fellow crewmen before he's caught by the Japanese navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.
- DirectorDavid MillerStarsKirk DouglasGena RowlandsWalter MatthauA fiercely independent cowboy gets himself locked up in prison to escape with an old friend.
- DirectorGillies MacKinnonStarsPhilip BarantiniAndy SerkisBarry BarnesThe skilled pilot Denis Hopkins lives with his pregnant wife Valerie and has a comfortable lifestyle. When the gang of criminals headed by the sadistic Ricky Barnes breaks in his seaside house, Denis offers whatever the criminals want to protect his beloved wife but the evil Ricky kills Valerie. The baby is saved, and later the murderer is arrested and sent to the maximum security prison of Sullen Voe. Denis, moved by the purpose of avenging the death of Valerie, gives the baby and his house to his sister-in-law Christine. Then Denis breaks into a police car and is arrested, but he does not reveal his true name and is called John "What" by the prisoners and guards. Denis attempts to escape, forcing his transfer to Sullen Voe. When he reaches the prison, Ricky sets up a confrontation, but things do not happen the way Denis expected.
- DirectorRob MarshallStarsRenée ZellwegerCatherine Zeta-JonesRichard GereTwo death-row murderesses develop a fierce rivalry while competing for publicity, celebrity, and a sleazy lawyer's attention.
- DirectorMick JacksonStarsGary OldmanDennis HopperFrances McDormandIn 1955 Florida, a Korean vet has a breakdown and is incarcerated in a "maximum security" mental health prison, where patients are abused.
- DirectorJames MatherSteve Saint LegerStarsGuy PearceMaggie GracePeter StormareA man wrongly convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage against the U.S. is offered his freedom if he can rescue the President's daughter from an outer-space prison taken over by violent inmates.
- DirectorEmmanuelle BercotStarsCatherine DeneuveRod ParadotBenoît MagimelA juvenile judge and a special educator are convinced that they can save the young delinquent Malony from himself and his violent ways.
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsRinaldo SmordoniFranco InterlenghiAnnielo MeleTwo shoeshine boys in postwar Rome, Italy save up to buy a horse, but their involvement as dupes in a burglary lands them in juvenile prison; the experience take a devastating toll on their friendship.
- DirectorKyle Patrick AlvarezStarsEzra MillerTye SheridanBilly CrudupIn 1971, twenty-four male students are selected to take on randomly assigned roles of prisoners and guards in a mock prison situated in the basement of the Stanford psychology building.
- DirectorLászló NemesStarsGéza RöhrigLevente MolnárUrs RechnA Jewish-Hungarian concentration camp prisoner sets out to give a child he mistook for his son a proper burial.