The BEST episodes of Inside the World's Toughest Prisons

#1 - Norway: The Perfect Prison?

Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/14/2018

Many prisons aim to punish and demean inmates. Norway's Halden Prison -- as Raphael Rowe is about to see for himself -- does things differently.

#2 - Solomon Islands

Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/15/2023

#3 - Finland

Season 7 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/15/2023

#4 - Paraguay: The Most Dangerous Prison on Earth

Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 7/29/2020

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.

#5 - Moldova: The Lifers Prison

Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/28/2022

Traveling to Moldova, Raphael Rowe locks himself within Penitentiary 17, a maximum-security prison housing more than a hundred life-sentence inmates.

#6 - Czech Republic

Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/15/2023

#7 - Lesotho: Confronting Sexual Violence

Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 7/29/2020

An unnerved Rowe contends with aggressive cellmates at Maseru prison, where a high number of inmates are behind bars for rape.

#8 - Indonesia

Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/15/2023

#9 - Bosnia: The Mafia Prison

Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/28/2022

At Zenica prison in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Raphael Rowe finds himself trapped with inmates ranging from organized crime bosses to ruthless killers

#10 - South Africa: The Number Gangs Prison

Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/8/2021

At Brandvlei Correctional Centre in South Africa, nearly all the convicts belong to dangerous gangs known for lethal stabbings.

#11 - Colombia: Narco Prison

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 12/14/2018

While spending a week inside Bogotá's fortress-like prison, Raphael Rowe must negotiate the oppressive atmosphere and deal with an ominous threat.

#12 - Greenland: Prison in the Ice

Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/8/2021

Greenland’s Nuuk maximum security prison houses extremely dangerous prisoners, many of whom grew up alongside the guards now watching over them.

#13 - Costa Rica: Prison on a Knife-Edge

Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 12/14/2018

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.

#14 - Mauritius: The Extreme Punishment Prison

Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 7/29/2020

The tropical Island of Mauritius is home to Melrose maximum security prison, where even the smallest infraction is met with extreme punishment.

#15 - Romania: Gypsy Prison

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 12/14/2018

Raphael Rowe spends a week at a maximum security prison in Craiova, Romania, where the inmates include rapists, murderers and contract killers.

#16 - Greece: The People Smugglers Prison

Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/28/2022

Raphael Rowe investigates one of Greece’s most overcrowded maximum-security prisons, overflowing with some of the country’s most dangerous offenders.

#17 - Philippines: The War on Drugs Prison

Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/8/2021

Once 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.

#18 - Papua New Guinea: The Breakout Prison

Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 7/6/2018

Raphael Rowe visits the short-staffed Bomana Prison in Papua New Guinea, where near-constant food shortages keep the facility on the brink of chaos.

#19 - Poland

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/11/2016

Paul serves time in the purpose-built prison in Poland, that was built to hold the worst criminals of the worst. Here he meets a notorious gangland killer and learns how a zero tolerance regime wiped out a prison gang.

#20 - Brazil: The Gang Prison

Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 7/6/2018

Investigative journalist Raphael Rowe spends a few days -- both as a guard and a prisoner -- inside Brazil's gang-filled Porto Velho Penitentiary.

#21 - Ukraine: The Prison in a War Zone

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 7/6/2018

Ukraine's Zhytomyr Prison is operated with a skeleton crew that allows prisoners to freely roam the grounds -- often with potentially dangerous weapons.

#22 - Mexico

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/25/2016

In a television first, crime journalist Paul Connolly is granted access to El Hongo maximum security prison, one of Mexico's toughest jails from where no-one has ever escaped. Isolated in the barren Baja desert of northern Mexico, El Hongo is a concrete fortress of discipline and punishment designed to contain and control over a thousand inmates including hardened cartel gangsters.

#23 - Philippines

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/18/2016

Paul spends time in the Rizal City Jail, known for being both overcrowded and housing impoverished prisoners. Here he shares a cell with a murderer and a rapist. He also explores how the Bahala Na gang rules a prison in the country.

#24 - Cyprus: The Utopian Prison

Season 6 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/28/2022

The Central Jail of Nicosia in Cyprus has undergone radical transformation over the years. But are these changes for the better?

#25 - Germany: The Therapy Prison

Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 7/29/2020

Schwalmstadt, a 12th-century fortress surrounded by a moat, houses some of Germany's worst offenders, many of whom attend intense therapy sessions.