The Best Prison Movies on Prime Video

What it's about: Ethan Hunt and his team are racing against time to track down a dangerous terrorist named Hendricks, who has gained access to Russian nuclear launch codes and is planning a strike on the United States. An attempt to stop him ends in an explosion causing severe destruction to the Kremlin and the IMF to be implicated in the bombing, forcing the President to disavow them. No longer being aided by the government, Ethan and his team chase Hendricks around the globe, although they might still be too late to stop a disaster.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hulu & Epix), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Obsessed with bringing terrorist Castor Troy to justice, FBI agent Sean Archer tracks down Troy, who has boarded a plane in Los Angeles. After the plane crashes and Troy is severely injured, possibly dead, Archer undergoes surgery to remove his face and replace it with Troy's. As Archer tries to use his disguise to elicit information about a bomb from Troy's brother, Troy awakes from a coma and forces the doctor who performed the surgery to give him Archer's face.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hulu & Epix), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: John McClane is back and badder than ever, and this time he's working for Homeland Security. He calls on the services of a young hacker in his bid to stop a ring of Internet terrorists intent on taking control of America's computer infrastructure.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: San Francisco Bay, January 18, 1960. Frank Lee Morris is transferred to Alcatraz, a maximum security prison located on a rocky island. Although no one has ever managed to escape from there, Frank and other inmates begin to carefully prepare an escape plan.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Epix), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Trying to reverse a family curse, brothers Jimmy and Clyde Logan set out to execute an elaborate robbery during the legendary Coca-Cola 600 race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Hildy, the journalist former wife of newspaper editor Walter Burns, visits his office to inform him that she's engaged and will be getting remarried the next day. Walter can't let that happen and frames the fiancé, Bruce Baldwin, for one thing after another, to keep him temporarily held in prison, while trying to steer Hildy into returning to her old job as his employee.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Vudu & 2 others), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Epix, Hoopla & 3 others), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A young man, whose only possession is a motorcycle, spends his time riding around the city looking for empty apartments. After finding one, he hangs out for a while, fixing himself something to eat, washing laundry or making small repairs in return. He always tries to leave before the owners get back but in one ostensibly empty mansion he meets the abused wife of a rich man and she escapes with him...

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: After her son Kevin commits a horrific act, troubled mother Eva reflects on her complicated relationship with her disturbed son as he grew from a toddler into a teenager.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, Plex, Vudu & 2 others), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hulu, The Criterion Channel & 2 others) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Charlie's got a 'job' to do. Having just left prison he finds one his of friends has attempted a high risk job in Torino, Italy, right under the nose of the mafia. Charlie's friend doesn't get very far, so Charlie takes over the 'job'. Using three Mini Coopers, a couple of Jaguars and a bus, he hopes to bring Torino to a standstill, steal a fortune in gold and escape in the chaos.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & CBS All Access) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Billy is released after five years in prison. In the next moment, he kidnaps teenage student Layla and visits his parents with her, pretending she is his girlfriend and they will soon marry.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A career criminal nabbed by Mexican authorities is placed in a tough prison where he learns to survive with the help of a 9-year-old boy.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, Vudu & IMDb TV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: In 1966, Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, captured, and, down to 85 pounds, escaped. Barefoot, surviving monsoons, leeches, and machete-wielding villagers, he was rescued. Now, near 60, living on Mt. Tamalpais, Dengler tells his story: a German lad surviving Allied bombings in World War II, postwar poverty, apprenticed to a smith, beaten regularly. At 18, he emigrates and peels potatoes in the U.S. Air Force. He leaves for California and college, then enlistment in the Navy to learn to fly. A quiet man of sorrows tells his story: war, capture, harrowing conditions, escape, and miraculous rescue. Where did he find the strength; how does he now live with his memories?

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Shout Factory TV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Fandor, Kanopy & 1 other) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Is American foreign policy dominated by the idea of military supremacy? Has the military become too important in American life? Jarecki's shrewd and intelligent polemic would seem to give an affirmative answer to each of these questions.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Mick O'Brien is a young Chicago street thug torn between a life of petty crime and the love of his girlfriend. But when the heist of a local drug dealer goes tragically wrong Mick is sentenced to a brutal juvenile prison where violence is a rite of passage and respect is measured in vengeance.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Henri “Papillon” Charrière, a safecracker from the Parisian underworld, is wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal colony of French Guiana, where he forges a strong friendship with Louis Dega, a counterfeiter who needs his protection.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Starz & Kanopy), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Starz) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A woman struggles to interact with her family and find her place in society after spending fifteen years in prison.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Following the arrest of her mother, Ramona, young Vanessa Lutz decides to go in search of her estranged grandmother. On the way, she is given a ride by school counselor Bob Wolverton. During the journey, Lutz begins to realize that Bob is the notorious I-5 Killer and manages to escape by shooting him several times. Wounded but still very much alive, Bob pursues Lutz across the state in this modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, Plex & IMDb TV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (Google Play & Prime Video).

What it's about: In this rough-and-tumble yarn, actually filmed on-location at the Georgia State Prision, the cons are the heroes and the guards are the heavies. Eddie Albert is the sadistic warden who'll gladly make any sacrifice to push his guards' semi-pro football team to a national championship.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix, Hulu & 1 other), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play, Prime Video & 3 others).

What it's about: A junkie must face his true self to kick his drug addiction.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & 3 others) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: Ray Owens is sheriff of the quiet US border town of Sommerton Junction after leaving the LAPD following a bungled operation. Following his escape from the FBI, a notorious drug baron, his gang, and a hostage are heading toward Sommerton Junction where the police are preparing to make a last stand to intercept them before they cross the border. Owens is reluctant to become involved but ultimately joins in with the law enforcement efforts

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Epix), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Five Jewish Hungarians, now U.S. citizens, tell their stories: before March, 1944, when Nazis began to exterminate Hungarian Jews, months in concentration camps, and visiting childhood homes more than 50 years later. An historian, a Sonderkommando, a doctor who experimented on Auschwitz prisoners, and US soldiers who were part of the liberation in April, 1945.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Three juvenile delinquents arrive at a correctional center and are put under the care of an experienced guard.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, Peacock, Plex & 2 others), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: A prequel to the first two Underworld films, this fantasy explains the origins of the feud between the Vampires and the Lycans. Aided by his secret love, Sonja, courageous Lucian leads the Lycans in battle against brutal Vampire king Viktor. Determined to break the king's enslavement of his people, Lucian faces off against the Death Dealer army in a bid for Lycan independence.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & TVision) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Suburbanite Ron is spoiled, young and not overly worried about the marijuana charges leveled against him. But, after being made out to be a drug dealer, he faces a five-year jail sentence in San Quentin State Prison. Physically frail and unaccustomed to his rough surroundings, Ron is primed to fall victim to sexual predators and bullying guards – that is, until he's befriended by Earl, a veteran inmate who finds meaning in protecting the vulnerable new kid.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (IMDb TV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Kanopy & Sundance Now) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: The true story of Frances Farmer's meteoric rise to fame in Hollywood and the tragic turn her life took when she was blacklisted.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: "Mad" Mary McArdle returns to Drogheda after a short spell in prison for something she'd rather forget. Back home, everything and everyone has changed. Her best friend, Charlene, is about to get married and Mary is maid of honor. When Charlene refuses Mary a 'plus one' on the grounds that she probably couldn't find a date, Mary becomes determined to prove her wrong.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: On Manhattan's gilded Upper East Side, a young gay painter is torn between an obsession with his infamous best friend and a promising new romance with an older foreign pianist.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hulu) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: Borneo, 1941, during World War II. When the Japanese occupy the island, American writer Agnes Newton Keith is separated from her husband and imprisoned with her son in a prison camp run by the enigmatic Colonel Suga…

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Epix & Secrets of Cinema), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: A martial arts instructor working at a police academy gets imprisoned after killing a man by accident. But when a vicious killer starts targeting martial arts masters, the instructor offers to help the police in return for his freedom.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 1 other), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hoopla & Hiyah) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: Rebellious Ki-soo from North Korea is mesmerized by tap dance in prison camps. Ki-soo joins as a team member of a dance team named ‘Swing Kids’. Yet suddenly, their dreams about dancing in prison camps are put in danger.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: This time, a cataclysmic temblor hits Los Angeles, turning it into an island. The president views the quake as a sign from above, expels Los Angeles from the country and makes it a penal colony for those found guilty of moral crimes. When his daughter, part of a resistance movement, steals the control unit for a doomsday weapon, Snake again gets tapped to save the day.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Philo, fuboTV & 1 other), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (AMC) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Desperate to repay his debt to his ex-wife, an ex-con plots a heist at his new employer's country home, unaware that a second criminal has also targeted the property, and rigged it with a series of deadly traps.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 2 others), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Shudder, Kanopy & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: When a teenager from a political family in the Philippines is accused of a double murder, the country’s entire judicial system is put to the test after years of alleged corruption.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Prime Video).

What it's about: Angel is released from juvenile detention on the eve of her 18th birthday. Haunted by her past, she embarks on a journey with her 10 year-old sister that could destroy their future.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix, Prime Video, Hoopla & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Vudu).

What it's about: Fourth-generation Army Col. William McNamara is imprisoned in a brutal German POW camp. Still, as the senior-ranking American officer, he commands his fellow inmates, keeping a sense of honor alive in a place where honor is easy to destroy, all under the dangerous eye of the Luftwafe vetran Col. Wilhelm Visser. Never giving up the fight to win the war, McNamara is silently planning, waiting for his moment to strike back at the enemy. A murder in the camp gives him the chance to set a risky plan in motion. With a court martial to keep Visser and the Germans distracted, McNamara orchestrates a cunning scheme to escape and destroy a nearby munitions plant, enlisting the unwitting help of young Lt. Tommy Hart. Together with his men, McNamara uses a hero's resolve to carry out his mission, ultimately forced to weigh the value of his life against the good of his country.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Bill Meceita, a boy whose family was murdered in front of him by a gang, sets out 15 years later to exact revenge. On his journey, he finds himself continually sparring and occasionally cooperating with Ryan, a gunfighter on his own quest for vengeance, who knows more than he says about Bill's tragedy.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: A man bumps into an old crush and becomes obsessed. After several failed attempts at winning her over, he kidnaps her and holds her captive underneath the animal shelter where he works.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Years ago, the young Five Fingers fought for the rural town of Marseilles against brutal police oppression. Now, after fleeing in disgrace, Tau, one of them, returns to Marseilles, seeking only a peaceful life. When he finds the town under new threat, he must reluctantly fight to free it.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: An ex-convict is tracked down by his estranged teenage son, and the pair try to build a relationship and life together in Seattle.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A young man who is charged with child molestation is placed in New York City’s infamous Tombs prison. When the other inmates in his cell block find out what he is charged with, life becomes extremely difficult for him.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: When Valerie returns home from prison years after killing her neighbour in an apparent drunk driving accident, she wants nothing more than to move on - until the deceased's son shows up at her door and it becomes clear that the past is not easily forgotten.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Behind the walls of the Compound, LA’s most violent juvenile offenders await their trials. To their advocates, they’re kids. To the system, they’re adults. To their victims, they’re monsters. Who are they to you?

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Plex), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Biopic about 1970s Welsh marijuana trafficker Howard Marks, whose inventive smuggling schemes made him a huge success in the drug trade, as well as leading to dealings with both the IRA and British Intelligence. Based on Marks' biography with the same title.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: An imprisoned ex-police inspector discovers that the entire penitentiary is controlled by an inmate running a crime syndicate and becomes part of the crime empire.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hiyah) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A psychotic young man returns to his old neighborhood after release from prison. He seeks out the woman he previously tried to rape and the man who protected her, with twisted ideas of love for her and hate for him.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, Plex & Crackle), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: The story of five teenage girls who form an unlikely bond after beating up a teacher who has sexually harassed them. They build a solid friendship but their wild ways begin to get out of control.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hulu & Epix), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Trevor sometimes-violent skinhead with no regard for authority, and would rather spend his time stealing cars than sitting in the detention centre to which he is sent. His social worker, Harry Parker, tries to do his best, but Trevor is only interested when there’s something that he can get out of it. The authorities within the centre try to make Trevor conform to the norms of society, but he takes no notice, and would rather speak in a torrent of four-letter words and racial abuse.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).

What it's about: A group of teenagers that work at the mall all get together for a late night party in one of the stores. When the mall goes on lock down before they can get out, the robot security system activates after a malfunction and goes on a killing spree. One by one the three bots try to rid the mall of the “intruders.” The only weapons the kids can use are the supplies in other stores, or if they can make it till morning when the mall opens back up.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Vudu & 1 other), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Shudder & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Janie’s just trying to get well. As she recovers from a violent psychotic break, she’s subjected each day to a bizarre holistic health and wellness regimen designed, and enforced, by her lifelong nanny and caretaker. But when she develops an obsession with a stranger, Janie's buried demons begin to surface.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Ex heroin junkie, Daniel Léger, gets involved in a drug deal with the wrong people for the wrong reasons. When the deal goes sour, Daniel gets thrown into a Thai prison and slapped with a 100-year sentence. While he tries to survive his Bangkok incarceration, the news of his conviction captures the attention of Globe and Mail journalist Victor Malarek, who decides to go after the shady undercover cops responsible for wrongly accusing Daniel.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).