Beyond Scared Straight

In Charlotte, NC, a group of at-risk teens, including a wannabe gangster and a drug dealer, is taken to Mecklenburg County Jail. Jose, the most defiant teen, goes head-to-head with terrifying inmates and one of the toughest female jail deputies Beyond Scared Straight has come across, Sgt.Garrett. When Jose finally refuses to follow an order, Sgt. Garrett makes it her mission to break Jose down.

Oakland County, Michigan is a stone's throw from Detroit's infamous 8-Mile and the streets here are just as tough--but the deputies and inmates who run Oakland County Jail's "Turn-Around" program are even tougher. They are physical, vocal and in-your-face. They may have met their match in Brandon, a drug-dealing teen who proves himself with his fists and claims that he was "raised by the streets." Brandon fights back from the moment the intervention tour begins. When an inmate physically challenges Brandon, things reach a fever pitch, and for the first time on Beyond Scared Straight, deputies go into action and a teen is thrown out of the program.

The at-risk teens of Portsmouth County, Virginia aren't afraid to fight back when confronted with a loud cellblock at Portsmouth County Jail. Angela gets into a screaming match with one verbally abusive inmate while Brian, who answers teasing with violence, insults another inmate and is pulled screaming into his cell. For one teen, a day is not enough and he is shocked when deputies show up at his home and return him to the jail for a day of hard labor.

Where once it stood for cowboys and cattle, Oklahoma County is now in the midst of an epidemic of gangs and street crime. Angry, impressionable teens are being pulled into the gangster lifestyle. For two pairs of at-risk girls who enter the Oklahoma County Jail intervention program, jail seems to be no scarier than the streets. They defy deputies and threaten inmates. When one girl is finally pushed to the breaking point, she lashes out, physically assaulting a deputy and finding out what it means to be arrested.

The mean streets of Los Angeles reach deep into San Bernardino County, where teens look to join gangs at an early age. For four teens that begin an intervention program at the San Bernardino County Jail, neither the deputies nor inmates seem to make an impact. Gerry, who sells drugs, threatens a deputy and Cesar, a thief, spits on an inmate. The group finally discovers the deadly consequences of violent gang life with a harrowing, up-close encounter with corpses at the county morgue.

After being mobbed by a cellblock of screaming inmates, at-risk teens from St. Clair, IL, are shocked when the terror follows them outside the jail.

Near Los Angeles, a teenaged female gang member defies inmates and deputies, leading to a physical confrontation in the chow hall.

At-risk siblings from Virginia are exposed to the deadly realities of life behind bars, leading to a life-shattering confession at the Western Tidewater Regional Jail.

In Maryland, during a four-day intervention experience where at-risk teens witness both jail and their own funeral, a boyfriend and girlfriend turn on each other.

Outside Detroit, a teen trio of female troublemakers discovers their bond is not tight enough to survive even a day inside a women's lockup.

In Hampton Roads, VA, teenage pyromaniac Robert discovers that he wouldn't survive behind bars, even though his mother is one of the deputies at the jail.