TV transports us to places we wouldn’t be able to visit otherwise. Other times, it allows us to live vicariously through people who see the world very differently than we do. I can’t think of a genre that gives us a peek into a life we should strive never to replicate more than the prison drama. Spending time in the slammer isn’t as abnormal as you would think (about 5% of all Americans have gone to jail at least once in their lifetime). Still, the other 95% of us are always a little curious about what happens behind bars, even if we know it’s unpleasant.
Many shows have put their characters in prison for a single episode or a small stretch of the plot (it feels like every sitcom from the 1990s had a prison episode), but we’re not going to focus on those series. This list is solely to appreciate the niche genre that places its characters in jail as the main setting and catalyst for the plots. These are the best prison TV series of all time.
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Oz (1997)
6 Seasons
Genre
Crime, Drama
Stars
Lee Tergesen, Harold Perrineau, Dean Winters
Created by
Tom Fontana
Watch on Amazon
Oz represents TV at its most ambitious. HBO swung for the fences with this prison saga about a group of dysfunctional, wildly different inmates who must face their past while forming a future out of an impossible situation living in a maximum security prison. Watching the show now will be a nostalgic experience, but Oz is a huge reason why other shows like The Sopranos, The Wire, and Breaking Bad flew even higher. The series was huge for Black representation, with actors like Ernie Hudson, Eamonn Walker, and Harold Perrineau giving great performances.
Orange Is the New Black (2013)
7 Seasons
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Stars
Taylor Schilling, Natasha Lyonne, Uzo Aduba
Created by
Jenji Kohan
Watch on Netflix
Orange is the New Black was one of the first Netflix original series to display the power of the streaming service to craft meaningful and unique TV that network and cable channels didn’t normally think about creating. An all-women’s prison is the setting for a variety of funny ladies who are trying their best to grasp meaning from life on the inside. Taylor Schilling, Natasha Lyonne (of Poker Face), and so many more helped this show become an incredibly popular Netflix staple for seven seasons.
Prison Break (2005)
5 Seasons
Genre
Action & Adventure, Crime, Drama
Stars
Wentworth Miller, Dominic Purcell, Sarah Wayne Callies
Created by
Paul T. Scheuring
Watch on Netflix
Prison Break is somewhat of a cult show now, but it was a big hit for FOX in the mid-2000s. The series follows a man who tries to get imprisoned in the same jail as his brother so he can break both of them out. The rest of the show always lived in the shadow of the first season, but the thrills and sharp writing at the beginning made it a beloved action-adventure experience that helped revolutionize future prison shows and crime dramas.
Wentworth (2013)
9 Seasons
Genre
Drama, Crime
Stars
Danielle Cormack, Nicole da Silva, Kate Atkinson
Created by
Reg Watson, Lara Radulovich
Watch on Apple TV+
Danielle Cormack plays a woman who resembles a fish out of water as she goes to prison after being accused of mariticide. Wentworth is much like Orange is the New Black in that it examines the unique circumstances of women living in prison, but Wentworth is a darker character study that focuses on one woman’s journey more than the rest of her friends’ in the prison. The show is a great example of the influx of Australian TV that should be more accessible in America.
Time (2021)
2 Seasons
Genre
Drama
Stars
Bella Ramsey, Siobhan Finneran, Jodie Whittaker
Created by
Jimmy McGovern
Watch on Amazon
Time is an anthology series that brings viewers inside British prisons with new characters each season. The first set of episodes with Sean Bean is the main dish here as Bean struggles to maintain his sanity while also being a family protector behind bars. Bella Ramsey from The Last of Us appears as a main character in the second season.
The Night Of (2016)
1 Season
Genre
Crime, Drama, Mystery
Stars
Riz Ahmed, John Turturro, Bill Camp
Created by
Steven Zaillian, Richard Price
Watch on Hulu
The Night Of is a slow-burn, contemplative HBO miniseries that depicts the journey of a Pakistani man who experiences racism and other hardships after he’s accused of the murder of a woman whom he barely knew. The series is quite literary and requires viewers to have a strong interest in the rights of prisoners and the discussion surrounding unfair incarceration in America. Riz Ahmed and John Turturro are the best performers in the show, but some of the smaller supporting actors and extras do heavy lifting to make the prison narrative more immersive than in other similar shows.
The Prisoner (1967)
1 Season
Genre
Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Mystery
Stars
Patrick McGoohan, Fenella Fielding, Peter Swanwick
Created by
Patrick McGoohan, George Markstein
Watch on Amazon
British TV seems to understand how to make entertaining prison series even back in the 1960s. The Prisoner is a classic dystopian drama that follows an unnamed prisoner who is living his life in a village encampment that doesn’t seem like jail at first glance. The scenery and domestic vibes of the camp contradict an underlying darkness. The Prisoner was remade with Ian McKellan in the late 2000s, but it didn’t match the original’s quality.
Black Bird (2022)
1 Season
Genre
Drama, Crime
Stars
Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser, Sepideh Moafi
Created by
Dennis Lehane
Watch on Apple TV+
Black Bird is the engrossing story of a man who must work with a serial killer with the hope he can the psycho to admit to his atrocities. In return, he’ll get a chance at parole for his own crimes. Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser are the highlight actors in the series. This remains one of the best series on Apple TV+.
