Lockdown (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Lockdown is a television series appearing on the National Geographic Channel
. The series is an educational look into prisons and jails in the United States, presented in a documentary
format. Lockdown is known in some regions as America's Hardest Prisons.
Fort Dodge Correctional Facility
and the Rivers Program to show a look at prison
though the eyes of new inmates that have not been before, and a program trying to stop repeat offenders.
leaders have the upper hand and call the shots. At Salinas Valley State Prison
in Soledad
, California
, there are nearly 200 gang-related attacks each year.
, California, a penal complex that has all the hallmarks of a maximum-security prison—violent inmates, overcrowding and a drug trade—but with a unique population: it houses 3,900 violent female offenders.
that houses men so dangerous that they must be locked down 23 hours a day. The facility has been specially designed to be "escape
free" by building the same security
fence Israel
put up in the West Bank
.
: Pelican Bay State Prison
, California. For two decades it’s been at the heart of California’s war on one of the greatest scourges in America
—prison gangs.
. Built partially underground, this state-of-the-art fortress houses criminals other prisons can’t handle. Despite cutting-edge technology, the inmates put the prison to the test.
takes you inside Ohio
’s Lebanon Correctional Institution
. A new inmate and a new officer are thrown into a mix of nearly 2,200 of the state’s most dangerous and conniving criminals.
takes you inside the Utah State Prison
—home to 4,000 of the state's most dangerous criminals—to show how inmates put their gang
first, no matter the cost, even if it results in losing custody
of their children. See firsthand how a female inmate—with her parole just weeks away—struggles with competing desires of being faithful to her gang and raising her 3-year-old daughter.
. The COs moved to Wyoming
for a job. Now, NGC follows three rookies, including a recent college
graduate, a carpenter
and a 27-year-old mother of two.
, Ariz., has one of the largest jail
systems in the country, with inmates outnumbering prison cell
s. To deal with the overflow, the sheriff
's office created Tent City
on the edge of town. Tent City houses 2,000 inmates in Korean War
-era tents. More than 20 felons share a single tent with more arriving every day. Temperatures inside the tents can reach 135 degrees during the summer. Witness firsthand what life is like for inmates and officers in this heated environment.
s, rapists
and those who have performed unthinkable acts. At the Ironwood Correctional Facility in California a group of inmates face this challenge on a daily basis while participating in a college education program founded and run by inmates. In Lockdown, inmates provide firsthand accounts of how important it is for them to graduate
from "Inmate U," despite facing stiff opposition from their gangs and frequent prison-wide lockdowns.
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
. The series is an educational look into prisons and jails in the United States, presented in a documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
format. Lockdown is known in some regions as America's Hardest Prisons.
First Timers
Inside the IowaIowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
Fort Dodge Correctional Facility
Fort Dodge Correctional Facility
The Fort Dodge Correctional Facility is a medium security institution located on of land in Fort Dodge, Iowa. The institution has 1,250 beds, and as of July 30, 2010, it has 1,233 inmates and another 75 in segregation...
and the Rivers Program to show a look at prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
though the eyes of new inmates that have not been before, and a program trying to stop repeat offenders.
Gang Wars
NGC brings you firsthand accounts from inmates and correctional officers in a prison where gangGang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
leaders have the upper hand and call the shots. At Salinas Valley State Prison
Salinas Valley State Prison
Salinas Valley State Prison is a Californian state prison located 5 miles north of Soledad, in Monterey County, California.The prison consists of four yards: A, B, C, and D. Of the four, C is the most violent...
in Soledad
Soledad, California
Soledad, meaning "solitude" and "loneliness" in Spanish, is a city in Monterey County, California, United States. Soledad is located southeast of Salinas, at an elevation of 190 feet...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, there are nearly 200 gang-related attacks each year.
Women Behind Bars
Explore the Valley State Prison in ChowchillaChowchilla
Chowchilla may refer to:* Chowchilla, a bird * Chowchilla, California, city in Madera County, California, USA** Chowchilla Airport** The kidnapping of a bus of children which took place in, and was named for, Chowchilla...
, California, a penal complex that has all the hallmarks of a maximum-security prison—violent inmates, overcrowding and a drug trade—but with a unique population: it houses 3,900 violent female offenders.
Total Control
Go inside a new high-tech SupermaxSupermax
Supermax is the name used to describe "control-unit" prisons, or units within prisons, which represent the most secure levels of custody in the prison systems of certain countries...
that houses men so dangerous that they must be locked down 23 hours a day. The facility has been specially designed to be "escape
Prison escape
A prison escape or prison break is the act of an inmate leaving prison through unofficial or illegal ways. Normally, when this occurs, an effort is made on the part of authorities to recapture them and return them to their original detainers...
free" by building the same security
Security
Security is the degree of protection against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition. The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies in the OSSTMM 3 defines security as "a form of protection...
fence Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
put up in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
.
Gangland
For the most violent, powerful, and infamous inmates, this is the last stop in prison purgatoryPurgatory
Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...
: Pelican Bay State Prison
Pelican Bay State Prison
Pelican Bay State Prison is a supermax California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison near Crescent City in unincorporated Del Norte County, California. The facility is explicitly designed to keep California’s alleged “worst of the worst” prisoners in long-term solitary...
, California. For two decades it’s been at the heart of California’s war on one of the greatest scourges in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
—prison gangs.
Inside Maximum Security
Go inside one of the country’s most secure prisons: Oak Park Heights SupermaxSupermax
Supermax is the name used to describe "control-unit" prisons, or units within prisons, which represent the most secure levels of custody in the prison systems of certain countries...
. Built partially underground, this state-of-the-art fortress houses criminals other prisons can’t handle. Despite cutting-edge technology, the inmates put the prison to the test.
Predators Behind Bars
The National Geographic ChannelNational Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
takes you inside Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
’s Lebanon Correctional Institution
Lebanon Correctional Institution
The Lebanon Correctional Institution is a prison operated by the U.S. state of Ohio's Department of Rehabilitation and Correction in Warren County's Turtlecreek Township, about four miles west of Lebanon and two miles east of Monroe on State Route 63...
. A new inmate and a new officer are thrown into a mix of nearly 2,200 of the state’s most dangerous and conniving criminals.
Gang vs. Family
National Geographic ChannelNational Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
takes you inside the Utah State Prison
Utah State Prison
Utah State Prison, or USP, is one of two prisons managed by the Utah Department of Corrections' Division of Institutional Operations. It is located in Draper, Utah, United States, about 20 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.-History:...
—home to 4,000 of the state's most dangerous criminals—to show how inmates put their gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
first, no matter the cost, even if it results in losing custody
Child custody
Child custody and guardianship are legal terms which are used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parent's duty to care for the child.Following ratification of the United...
of their children. See firsthand how a female inmate—with her parole just weeks away—struggles with competing desires of being faithful to her gang and raising her 3-year-old daughter.
Newbies
At the Wyoming State Penitentiary (WSP), 30 new correctional officers have one thing in common: none of them have ever worked in a prison before. WSP is chronically and dangerously, understaffed—even the inmates know how dire the situation is. To find new officers, the prison went recruiting in states rife with unemploymentUnemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
. The COs moved to Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
for a job. Now, NGC follows three rookies, including a recent college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
graduate, a carpenter
Carpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
and a 27-year-old mother of two.
Tent City
PhoenixPhoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, Ariz., has one of the largest jail
Jail
A jail is a short-term detention facility in the United States and Canada.Jail may also refer to:In entertainment:*Jail , a 1966 Malayalam movie*Jail , a 2009 Bollywood movie...
systems in the country, with inmates outnumbering prison cell
Prison cell
A prison cell or holding cell or lock-up is a small room in a prison, or police station where a prisoner is held.Prison cells are usually about 6 by 8 feet in size with steel or brick walls and one solid or barred door that locks from the outside. Many modern prison cells are pre-cast. Solid doors...
s. To deal with the overflow, the sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
's office created Tent City
Tent City
A tent city is a temporary housing facility made using tents. Informal tent cities may be set up without authorization by homeless people or protesters. As well, state governments or military organizations set up tent cities to house refugees, evacuees, or soldiers...
on the edge of town. Tent City houses 2,000 inmates in Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
-era tents. More than 20 felons share a single tent with more arriving every day. Temperatures inside the tents can reach 135 degrees during the summer. Witness firsthand what life is like for inmates and officers in this heated environment.
Inmate University
Imagine trying to study while surrounded by murderMurder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
s, rapists
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and those who have performed unthinkable acts. At the Ironwood Correctional Facility in California a group of inmates face this challenge on a daily basis while participating in a college education program founded and run by inmates. In Lockdown, inmates provide firsthand accounts of how important it is for them to graduate
Graduation
Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become Graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as Graduands. The date of graduation is often called degree day. The graduation itself is also...
from "Inmate U," despite facing stiff opposition from their gangs and frequent prison-wide lockdowns.