Let's go to Jail!
by saarvardi | created - 01 Nov 2014 | updated - 26 Jul 2018 | PublicFilms and Tv shows in which the characters serve time in prison. Fell free to add more to the list
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1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
R | 142 min | Drama
Over the course of several years, two convicts form a friendship, seeking consolation and, eventually, redemption through basic compassion.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler
Votes: 2,887,179 | Gross: $28.34M
2. Midnight Express (1978)
R | 121 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Billy Hayes, an American college student, is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Brad Davis, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins, Paolo Bonacelli
Votes: 88,205 | Gross: $35.00M
3. The Green Mile (1999)
R | 189 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
A 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.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt
Votes: 1,406,534 | Gross: $136.80M
4. The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
PG-13 | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A young man, falsely imprisoned by his jealous "friend", escapes and uses a hidden treasure to exact his revenge.
Director: Kevin Reynolds | Stars: Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce, Christopher Adamson, JB Blanc
Votes: 148,392 | Gross: $54.23M
5. The Rock (1996)
R | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A 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.
Director: Michael Bay | Stars: Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris, John Spencer
Votes: 358,018 | Gross: $134.07M
6. Prison Break (2005–2017)
TV-14 | 44 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A 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.
Stars: Dominic Purcell, Wentworth Miller, Amaury Nolasco, Robert Knepper
Votes: 579,042
7. Oz (1997–2003)
TV-MA | 55 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A series chronicling the daily activities of an unusual prison facility and its criminal inhabitants.
Stars: Ernie Hudson, J.K. Simmons, Lee Tergesen, Dean Winters
Votes: 106,623
8. Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019)
TV-MA | 59 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Convicted of a decade-old crime of transporting drug money, ordinarily law-abiding Piper Chapman is sentenced to 18 months behind bars and quickly discovers the realities of life-changing prison time.
Stars: Taylor Schilling, Danielle Brooks, Taryn Manning, Emma Myles
Votes: 320,059
9. The Next Three Days (2010)
PG-13 | 133 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A married couple's life is turned upside down when the wife is accused of a murder.
Director: Paul Haggis | Stars: Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson, Michael Buie
Votes: 206,559 | Gross: $21.15M
10. Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
PG | 112 min | Action, Biography, Crime
Alcatraz 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.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Roberts Blossom, Jack Thibeau
Votes: 147,384 | Gross: $43.00M
11. Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Not Rated | 147 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A surly convicted murderer held in permanent isolation redeems himself when he becomes a renowned bird expert.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter, Neville Brand
Votes: 19,291
12. Stone (2010)
R | 105 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
A 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.
Director: John Curran | Stars: Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich, Robert De Niro, Frances Conroy
Votes: 42,900 | Gross: $1.80M
13. Lockout (2012)
PG-13 | 95 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A 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.
Directors: James Mather, Steve Saint Leger | Stars: Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Peter Stormare, Vincent Regan
Votes: 100,931 | Gross: $14.33M
14. Escape Plan (2013)
R | 115 min | Action, Thriller
When 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.
Director: Mikael Håfström | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, 50 Cent, Vincent D'Onofrio
Votes: 257,380 | Gross: $25.13M
15. The Longest Yard (2005)
PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy, Crime, Sport
Prison inmates form a football team to challenge the prison guards.
Director: Peter Segal | Stars: Adam Sandler, Burt Reynolds, Chris Rock, Nelly
Votes: 195,007 | Gross: $158.12M
16. Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
R | 120 min | Drama
A gay man and a political prisoner are together in a prison. The gay man narrates the stories of two fake movies and his own life.
Director: Hector Babenco | Stars: William Hurt, Raul Julia, Sonia Braga, José Lewgoy
Votes: 17,341 | Gross: $17.04M
17. Hunger (2008)
Not Rated | 96 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Irish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, Stuart Graham, Laine Megaw
Votes: 73,535 | Gross: $0.15M
18. Get the Gringo (2012)
R | 96 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A career criminal nabbed by Mexican authorities is placed in a tough prison where he learns to survive with the help of a young boy.
Director: Adrian Grunberg | Stars: Mel Gibson, Kevin Balmore, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Jesús Ochoa
Votes: 111,620
19. A Prophet (2009)
R | 155 min | Crime, Drama
A delinquent Muslim man struggles to get by in prison until he is taken under the wing of a powerful mob boss. But his gradual rise through the mob's ranks brings him in conflict with his mentor.
Director: Jacques Audiard | Stars: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Reda Kateb
Votes: 102,165 | Gross: $2.08M
20. Cell 211 (2009)
113 min | Action, Crime, Drama
The 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.
Director: Daniel Monzón | Stars: Luis Tosar, Alberto Ammann, Antonio Resines, Manuel Morón
Votes: 70,760
21. Law Abiding Citizen (2009)
R | 109 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free.
Director: F. Gary Gray | Stars: Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Leslie Bibb, Colm Meaney
Votes: 319,703 | Gross: $73.34M
22. The Longest Yard (1974)
R | 121 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A sadistic warden asks a former pro quarterback, now serving time in his prison, to put together a team of inmates to take on (and get pummeled by) the guards.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, Ed Lauter, Michael Conrad
Votes: 21,418 | Gross: $7.13M
23. In the Name of the Father (1993)
R | 133 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
An 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.
Director: Jim Sheridan | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Alison Crosbie, Philip King
Votes: 187,042 | Gross: $25.01M
24. Murder in the First (1995)
R | 122 min | Drama, Thriller
An 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.
Director: Marc Rocco | Stars: Christian Slater, Kevin Bacon, Gary Oldman, Embeth Davidtz
Votes: 30,663 | Gross: $17.38M
25. Chicago (2002)
PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy, Crime, Musical
Two death-row murderesses develop a fierce rivalry while competing for publicity, celebrity, and a sleazy lawyer's attention.
Director: Rob Marshall | Stars: Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Taye Diggs
Votes: 243,287 | Gross: $170.69M
26. Brokedown Palace (1999)
PG-13 | 100 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Two women are arrested for smuggling while vacationing in Thailand.
Director: Jonathan Kaplan | Stars: Claire Danes, Kate Beckinsale, Bill Pullman, Jacqueline Kim
Votes: 24,047 | Gross: $10.11M
27. Let's Go to Prison (2006)
R | 84 min | Comedy, Crime
When 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.
Director: Bob Odenkirk | Stars: Dax Shepard, Will Arnett, Chi McBride, David Koechner
Votes: 26,458 | Gross: $4.61M
28. I Want to Live! (1958)
Approved | 120 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A prostitute, sentenced to death for murder, pleads her innocence.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Virginia Vincent, Theodore Bikel
Votes: 7,344
29. A Man for All Seasons (1966)
G | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of Sir Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarry.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Robert Shaw, Leo McKern
Votes: 37,144 | Gross: $28.35M
30. Chopper (2000)
R | 94 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Chopper tells the intense story of Mark "Chopper" Read, a legendary criminal who wrote his autobiography while serving a jail sentence in prison. His book, "From the Inside", upon which the film is based, was a best-seller.
Director: Andrew Dominik | Stars: Eric Bana, Simon Lyndon, Vince Colosimo, Renée Brack
Votes: 41,492 | Gross: $0.23M
31. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
GP | 127 min | Crime, Drama
A laid-back Southern man is sentenced to two years in a rural prison, but refuses to conform.
Director: Stuart Rosenberg | Stars: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, J.D. Cannon
Votes: 188,467 | Gross: $16.22M
32. Alien³ (1992)
R | 114 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Returning from LV-426, Ellen Ripley crash-lands on the maximum-security prison Fiorina 161, where she discovers that she has unwittingly brought along an unwelcome visitor.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Paul McGann
Votes: 319,278 | Gross: $55.47M
33. Madea Goes to Jail (2009)
PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Mischievous grandma Madea lands in jail, where she meets a variety of mixed-up characters.
Director: Tyler Perry | Stars: Tyler Perry, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Derek Luke, David Mann
Votes: 12,943 | Gross: $90.49M
34. Stir Crazy (1980)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Crime
Set up and wrongfully accused, two best friends are sent to prison for a crime they didn't commit. However, no prison cell can keep them locked in a cage.
Director: Sidney Poitier | Stars: Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, Georg Stanford Brown, JoBeth Williams
Votes: 30,385 | Gross: $101.30M
35. Get Hard (2015)
R | 100 min | Comedy, Crime
When millionaire James King is jailed for fraud and bound for San Quentin, he turns to Darnell Lewis to prep him to go behind bars.
Director: Etan Cohen | Stars: Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Alison Brie, Tip 'T.I.' Harris
Votes: 146,990 | Gross: $90.41M
36. The Hurricane (1999)
R | 146 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The story of Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Denzel Washington, Vicellous Shannon, Deborah Kara Unger, Liev Schreiber
Votes: 102,428 | Gross: $50.67M
37. Hunger (2008)
Not Rated | 96 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Irish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, Stuart Graham, Laine Megaw
Votes: 73,535 | Gross: $0.15M
38. Escape Plan 2: Hades (2018)
R | 96 min | Action, Crime, Mystery
Years after he fought his way out of an inescapable prison, Ray Breslin has organized a new top-notch security force. But when one of his team members goes missing, Breslin must return to the hell he once escaped from.
Director: Steven C. Miller | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Dave Bautista, Xiaoming Huang, Jesse Metcalfe
Votes: 35,259
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