If you’ve watched ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, you probably have a halfway decent idea about what really goes down in prison. There’s usually an entire social hierarchy within every facility, and the ones at the bottom get the short end of the straw, so to speak. There’s murders, rapes and attacks on prisoners as well as the guards, and corrupt compliance ensures the process goes unchecked. There are normal prisons however, and then there are incarceration facilities that resemble the most bleak and despairing hellholes you can imagine.
Here are the most dangerous prisons in the world.
1. Black Dolphin Prison, Russia
Inmates are not allowed to sit or rest during the day
This prison in Russia houses the worst of the worst – murderers, rapists, paedophiles and cannibals. Due to the nature of the convicts, the warders are just as brutal. The prisoners are not allowed to sit or rest from when they wake up until it is time to sleep, and they are also blindfolded and held in stress positions while being transported around.
2. Penal de Ciudad Barrios
A prison so dangerous, even the guard are too scared to enter
The ultra violent MS 13 gang exist here side by side with the equally dangerous Barrio 18 gang, in conditions that aren’t even right for livestock. There are frequent bouts of violence between most of these tattooed gang members, which leave several people, including armed guards dead.
3. Petak Island Prison, Russia
A prison mainly for murderers, rapists and cannibals
This bleak prison is especially adapted to hold the country’s most dangerous criminals. They utilise a system of mental and physical stress techniques to break down the will of their prisoners. The inmates are in their tiny cells for 22 hours a day, they are not allowed books and are allowed two short visits in a year. The toilet facilities are also abysmal, and torture is common.
4. Bang Kwang Prison, Bangkok
Notorious for inflicting brutal mental and physical torture on inmates
Home to inmates considered dangerous to the sanctity of the country, prisoners here only receive one bowl of rice soup per day. Those on death row have leg irons welded on around their ankles.
5. Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, Kenya
Has problems of extreme violence and rape
Apart from the dismal conditions of this place, which includes extreme overcrowding, heat and water scarcity, the prison is also known for it’s violence. Both fights between prisoners as well as beatings by the warders are severe, and the problem of rape also remains alarming inside.
6. Tadmor Prison, Syria
Known for torturing prisoners by dragging them on the ground
Tadmor has a reputation as one of the worst prisons in the world. The abuse, torture and inhumane treatment meted out inside the walls of this jail have afforded it a notorious legacy not easily forgotten. Prisoners were tortured by being dragged to death or being cut into pieces by an axe. on June 27, 1980, defence forces massacred an estimated 1000 prisoners in one fell sweep.
7. La Sabaneta Prison, Venezuela
200 prisoners were openly killed here by guards in 1995
This prison is highly understaffed and seriously over populated, a deadly combination if there ever was one. Violence and rape is commonplace, with one incident in 1995 where 200 prisoners were killed. Everyone in here carries a make-shift knife, and the prison is more about survival than rehabilitation.
8. Unit 1391, Israel
A secret prison that’s notorious for human rights abuse
This highly secretive detention center has been dubbed the ‘Israeli Guantanamo’. It holds volatile political prisoners and other enemies of the state, and the treatment meted out to them is disgusting, to say the least. The prison flies under the radar of most authorities, and even the minister of Justice was not aware of it’s existence as the area had been purged from modern maps. Torture and human rights abuse is commonplace here.
9. Gitarama Central Prison, Rwanda
Notorious for the horrible conditions and incidents of violence
A prison meant for 600 people houses 6000. Considered to be ‘hell on earth’ by anyone who has seen it, the prison stacks inmates together like cattle, with barely any facilities and extreme, inhuman conditions. Danger and disease is rampant, and the conditions are unimaginable.
10. ADX Florence, USA
Houses the most dangerous terrorists in America
This facility is deemed a supermax prison, with extreme control for prisoners considered most dangerous. Inmates have to spend 23 hours a day in solitary confinement and incidents of force feeding and suicide are pretty high. This kind of treatment leads to serious psychological problems for the inmates.