Season four of the documentary Inside The Worlds Toughest Prisons is as gritty and shocking as the three that came before it. With only four episodes in each season, it's an easy binge-watch even if it does leave you more than a little shocked and uncomfortable.
The show does exactly what it says on the tin and takes you inside some of the most deprived, horrifying prisons anywhere in the world. Hosted by Raphael Rowe, this British journalist spends a week locked up inside each prison to really show us what life is like behind these bars.
Rowe himself spent 12 years inside a British prison accused of murder. His conviction was overturned because he didn't actually commit the crime. He now travels the world to find out what others are facing in their respective countries. Inside The Worlds Toughest Prisons kicks off with a trip to Tacumbu Prison in Paraguay. With one guard to every 125 prisoners and over 4,000 inmates at the facility, this is one of the most dangerous prisons in the world.
The poorest inmates must scavenge through the waste for items they can sell. The rich inmates can pay for better quality lodgings and food. Some have even started their own businesses which is actively encouraged as there isn't enough funding to take care of them all. Life is a daily struggle of simply trying to stay alive. Drugs are rampant, stabbings are a daily occurrence and when night falls, the guards are all but gone and it's every man for himself.
From Paraguay to Germany and a very different prospect in terms of incarceration. Here, in Schwalmstadt, prisoners are being treated with intensive therapy in a bid to become normal citizens when they leave prison. The facilities are impeccable and there is a lot of mutual respect between guards and inmates. Does their approach provide better results than the others featured in the series? Rowe is there to find out.
The final two prisons covered in Inside The Worlds Toughest Prisons season 4 are Melrose Maximium Security in Mauritius and the Maseru Prison in Lesotho, Africa. Both are equally as shocking in their own way. In Mauritius, a new regime has meant that every small luxury has now been taken away from the inmates. Being caught with a cigarette is punishable with 16 days in solitary. The prisoners are almost robotic in their behaviour as the consequences for breaking any rules are so severe.
But it's Maseru Prison in Lesotho that will completely floor you. With a third of the prisoners carrying HIV and 45% in for rape crimes, this is hell on earth. To say it will leave you cold is an understatement. Even Raphael Rowe couldn't quite believe the extraordinary levels of deprivation that exist there. How he stayed there for a week is still a mystery as most of us wouldn't last an hour.
Overall Inside The Worlds Toughest Prisons is an extraordinary eye-opener. It is a highly recommended documentary simply to acknowledge the conditions that some people live in around the world.
Richard
I was looking for a commentary section but was unable to find one. Rowe to me is so ignorant for someone who all his liberty was taken can suggest after watching his 5 th season, and I’m not one to jump the gun and offer my opinion. He is in Lesotho and trying to understand sexual violence from an English point of view! Your country is responsible for creating this environment for one. Did it happen previously, yes I’m sure. England is responsible for 90 % of the world problems as the 2nd from last empires. America is the last. Biblical if you are to admit it. England dominated these cultures and refused to create or enforce their beliefs, yet now stand judging them. Are you now trying to help them? No. You through the WHO and other organizations putting bandages but not getting to a truth. This place has zero! No healthcare no rehab not nothing. Shame on you and Netflix. You profit from this but offer nothing I see. You had the ability to get out of a wrongful conviction, they don’t. This was a first for me to watch this and I will forever suffer. You put something on my conscience I cannot remove. I doubt I will ever seriously be able to remove this burden you put on me. You will never respond to me I’m sure!
bbgood
The one about Lesotho is hardly the world’s worst prison by any stretch of the imagination. The presenter came acrossbas being totally ignorant of the countey he was in. He hadn’t done any research on the culture and the standard of living in that country. He came across as being sanctimonious and what’s with all the subtitles on people who spoke better English than the presenter. Its a fail for me.