'Inside the World's Toughest Prisons' Season 4: Release date, plot, cast, trailer and all you need to know about Netflix docu-series

Each season, a host of volunteers spend time within the prison walls to learn, explore and understand the lives of people who live there
UPDATED JUL 24, 2020
Raphael Rowe (Netflix)
Raphael Rowe (Netflix)

Prison in itself sounds tough and menacing; add toughest to that and you have a whole show that documents the grueling daily lives of inmates living in some of the most infamous jails in the world. Read on to know more about Netflix's docu-series 'Inside the World's Toughest Prisons' Season 4.

Release date

'Inside the World's Toughest Prisons' Season 4 releases on Netflix on Wednesday, July 29. 

Plot

Each season, a host volunteers spend time within the prison walls to learn, explore and understand the lives of people who live there. The findings of this thrilling journey not only gives a more first-hand picture of the workings of a particular prison but also shows the lapses in it. Each season airs four 45-minute long episodes that deep-dives into the dark recesses of a jail — murders, rapes, riots, drug usage and weapon-making — that makes it anything but a correctional facility. Death and disease caused by austere overcrowding is a major problem across prisons. 

This season Raphael Rowe will travel to prisons in Paraguay, Germany, Mauritius and Lesotho.

Cast

Raphael Rowe (Netflix)

Raphael's work in the second and third seasons was appreciated and applauded by many. Talking to Cape Talk about filming the show, he said that one would think he wouldn't go back to prison (he was wrongfully convicted of a crime he didn't commit) but he surprises them every time because now he can walk out anytime he chooses. "Their stories are important in order to prevent the next victims, that's one of the reasons I go back into these places," he shared and added that the goal is to assess the reform system that is at play across prisons and also, the kind of injustice the incarcerated individuals are subjected to. "I go into these maximum-security prisons and I am treated like a prisoner, by the prison staff and the prisoners... for the seven days that I'm in those prisons," he further elaborated. 

Trailer

Watch the trailer here. Raphael will begin the season with Tacumbu, a dangerous prison in Paraguay.  

Showrunners

The show is produced and directed by Johnny McDevitt and Minna Sedmakov. Serving as executive producers are Emma Read, Tom Pearson and Gabe Solomon.

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