Best Prison Movies & TV Shows

Time

Guilt, violence and impossible choices – what does it take to survive? Tense, gritty and heartbreaking – Jimmy McGovern's award-winning prison drama, with an all-star cast.

Stars: Bella Ramsey Jodie Whittaker Siobhan Finneran Tamara Lawrance

Out of the Furnace

Two brothers live in the economically-depressed Rust Belt, when a cruel twist of fate lands one in prison. His brother is then lured into one of the most violent crime rings in the Northeast.

Run time: 116m Tagline: Sometimes your battles choose you. Release: 2013-11-09

Stars: Boyd Holbrook Casey Affleck Christian Bale Forest Whitaker Gordon Michaels Sam Shepard Tom Bower Willem Dafoe Woody Harrelson Zoe Saldaña

Control

Lee Ray Oliver, a death row inmate, is given a second chance at life if he agrees to undergo a new chemical treatment used to modify behavior.

Run time: 104m Tagline: Sentenced to death... chosen to live... destined to kill again. Release: 2004-12-07

Stars: Glenn Wrage Kathleen Robertson Mark Pickard Michelle Rodriguez Polly Walker Ray Liotta Stephen Rea Stewart Alexander Tim DeKay Willem Dafoe

A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

Run time: 136m Tagline: Love is a burning thing. Release: 2005-09-13

Stars: Dallas Roberts Dan John Miller Ginnifer Goodwin Joaquin Phoenix Larry Bagby Reese Witherspoon Robert Patrick Shelby Lynne Tyler Hilton Waylon Payne

The Shawshank Redemption

10 / 10

Imprisoned 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.

Run time: 142m Tagline: Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free. Release: 1994-09-23

Stars: Bob Gunton Clancy Brown Gil Bellows James Whitmore Jeffrey DeMunn Larry Brandenburg Mark Rolston Morgan Freeman Tim Robbins William Sadler