Netflix is launching a new season of the popular documentary series "Inside the World's Toughest Prisons." The series dives deep into some of the world's most notorious jails. The streaming platform acquired the original version of the series and started talking to producers about the new series, Variety reported.
This new four-part documentary will be hosted by ex-prisoner and journalist Raphael Rowe.
Rowe was imprisoned for 12 years in a high-security prison for "a murder he did not commit," Variety noted. He will travel to dangerous prisons in Brazil, Ukraine, Belize and Papua New Guinea. Rowe will speak to serial killers, drug lords, and prison dictators.
Netflix will bring viewers into some of the world's dangerous prisons
Through the four-part series, Rowe will embed himself into the prisons and will live with dangerous inmates in each jail for a week. He will share cells with real inmates and also work with the guards to discover the methods they use to keep the peace in these dangerous environments.
Rowe told Deadline that taking on this new role and going back into the prison system was the hardest decision he has ever made. Rowe said that taking on the life of an inmate in order to understand them and experience the conditions they are held in, is dangerous. Rowe will be experiencing extreme punishments and serious gang warfare.
The four-part series will launch next month on Netflix, Deadline reported.
Netflix is already working on an additional series with Rowe and Emporium
The series is being executive produced by London-based Emporium and Emma Read. Emporium was established by Read in 2015. Emporium is also now working on a second addition with Netflix. Emporium has said that the series reveals different attitudes to prisoners around the world and the way that they attempt to balance human rights with security.
'Inside the World's Toughest Prisons' was originally released in 2016 and was originally hosted by crime journalist Paul Connolly, who entered many of the world's notorious prisons. Connolly entered prisons in Honduras, Philippines, Poland, and Mexico.
The series received mix reviews on Netflix. One of the notorious prisons Connolly entered was Poland's Piotrkow prison. The prison housed many of the world's most dangerous prisoners. Connolly managed to spend five days in this highly secure prison. The prison has the technology and power to monitor every prisoner from low to high risk and can hear them every hour of the day. Connolly called it a very claustrophobic prison.