Behind Bars: The World's Toughest Prisons

Colony 100 - Ukraine’s prison for hardened criminals. All those behind the walls of this Soviet-built prison have either already done time in at least three other Ukrainian jails, or they have committed crimes so heinous that they will never again leave their 100-square-foot-cell in the maximum security wing. The prison is marked by an omnipresent hopelessness.

South Cotabato Jail. One of the most overcrowded prisons in the world. Murderers, rapists, and drug dealers. The guilty and the innocent. All are behind bars together. In a jail designed for 600 prisoners, more than 2000 inmates are crammed into cells the size of shoe boxes. The prison is bursting at the seems, and there is no hope of improvement.

The inmates in the Carcel Distrital in Colombia fight many battles: against other prisoners, against the guards and most of all against themselves. It's a battle that most of them lose.

The Carcel Distrital is located in one of the most dangerous quarters of Bogotá. Nearly 950 men and 50 women are imprisoned here. Most are still awaiting their final judgment. Their long wait may last for years: Justice in Columbia is very slow. Frustrating slow. Many frustrated people in one place will always lead to great problems. The 170 staff members have their hands full.

El Hongo is a high-security bunker in Mexico´s desert. With sensors, cameras, mobile phone jammers, this prison is a veritable high-tech fortress. Snipers on fifteen guard towers make sure that nothing can get in or out. El Hongo is deemed perfectly incorruptible in a country where corruption runs through all levels of society like cancer.

Once, inmates in Armenian prisons fell into the hands of the "Thieves in Law," a criminal brotherhood rejecting state authority and living by its own code. They control the prison and control drug trade and smuggling. Nobody knows their leaders, but their power is immense. Armavir prison is the first attempt at limiting their influence. 

La Mesa, A Mexican prison just over the US border. The inmates? Drug traffickers, rapists, cartel killers. They have tough times ahead. They hardly get to leave their cells. They sleep, eat, pee, all in a very confined space. Only two square meters for up to eight inmates. La Mesa is ruled with an iron fist.