Hard Time

2009 • National Geographic Channel
4.6
107 reviews
TV-14
Rating
Eligible
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Season 2 episodes (8)

1 The Hustle
2/1/11
Go inside the underground prison economy at Ohio's Ross Correctional Institution and see inmates try their hands at different money-making strategies. A "jailhouse thief" brings his street ways within jailhouse walls, brutally robbing inmates and selling their possessions. A drug dealer on a 27-year sentence for attempted murder struggles to stay "clean" after getting caught up selling contraband at the orientation prison.
2 Prison City
2/1/11
Go inside the gated city of Ross Correctional Institution where every inmate must make a choice: use his sentence to prepare for a life on the outside, or fall prey to the convict mentality — which on the inside is called getting "institutionalized."

One inmate considers how much the outside world has changed and doubts that he can re-adapt. Another confronts dependence on the structured prison life, and how institutionalized he already is. No inmates leave these gates the same way they came in, but once released, who will they be back in the free world?
3 Breaking the Rules
2/8/11
A high-stakes game of cat and mouse plays out at the Ross Correctional Institution in Ohio. On one side, there are the rule breakers: a drug hustler trying to run his game behind bars, an old-school inmate, a jailhouse lawyer subverting the system and a lone wolf with one too many strikes. On the other is a team of dedicated officers who monitor every corner of the prison and work to catch them all in the act.
4 Female Offenders
2/15/11
Women are the fastest-growing prison population in America, and among the toughest to manage. At the Ohio Reformatory for Women (ORW) outside of Columbus, "pseudo-families" emerge instead of gangs. Inmate Dorie Terrell heads a family 30 members strong. She claims to offer guidance and food to her girls, but the prison sees her role as a potentially dangerous abuse of power. When Heather O'Brien arrived at ORW, she was almost nine months pregnant. See the many challenges she faces while raising her daughter in the prison nursery.
5 Against the Wall
2/22/11
Enter the locked-down world of Ohio's intake prison. For the newly convicted, the Correctional Reception Center (CRC) in Orient, Ohio, is their last view of the free world. More than 14,000 inmates are sized up each year at CRC and moved on to serve out their sentences. From robbers to murders and rapists, CRC sees it all. And while most follow the rules and do their time peacefully, some inmates come in with their own agenda, ready to make trouble.
6 Prison Gangs
3/1/11
In prison, every day is a fight for survival. An inmate's most important weapon may not be a shank or a razor, but instead a gang membership. With more than 1,400 classified gangs in the Ohio prison system, inmates are joining up in alarming numbers. And a new generation of gangsters fills the cells of Ross Correctional Institution: a “captain” of the Aryan Brotherhood, a mastermind building a new breed of Hispanic gangs and a pair of adolescent criminals challenging the G-Code — a simple yet strict expectation that members put the gang before themselves. Pursuing them all is Officer Jeff Clark, a 20-year veteran fighting to stem the unending flow of gang activity.
7 Back on the Streets
3/8/11
Almost all of the inmates in Ohio's Ross Correctional Institution for drugs, robbery or murder will be released back into the community someday. But withdrawing from the temptations of gang life, gambling and dark hustles is a steep challenge. After years behind bars, prison can seem more like home than the outside world. The last few months of an inmate's sentence are a time for him to unlearn the prison mentality. Follow inmates nearing the end of weeks, months or years of imprisonment before they are supposed to walk out the gate and re-enter society.
8 Worst of the Worst
3/15/11
With more attacks on inmates and staff than any other facility in Ohio, Lucasville is the jail within the prison system. Fight, extort, run contraband or break the rules in any other prison in the state and you could be sent here. With some of the strictest controls of any prison, new arrivals at Lucasville spend 23 hours a day on lockdown with little movement and even fewer privileges. But even in such a restricted setting, the hustles and gambles of prison life continue.

About this show

Hard Time reveals gripping stories of life behind bars for a gritty long-view into a hidden world of prisons.

Ratings and reviews

4.6
107 reviews
D L
April 22, 2014
Who cares? Don't they give up their rights in prison? Stop glorifying prisoners, kill the 100% guilty evil, lessen our prisons and the money we use to support them. Bring back hard labor, cut off a hand if they steal, do unto others as they've done unto others.
10 people found this review helpful
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JEREMY Molonlabe
March 1, 2013
Their criminals and a menace to society, no sympathy I'm tired of paying for crooks and minority's
8 people found this review helpful
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Andrew Bass
October 30, 2013
Love the show never gets boring new changes and surprises always happeeb and. Funny because prisoners think that they are the ruler and anything they want
6 people found this review helpful
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