The Big House (1998)

Attica Correctional Facility - opened in 1931, is a maximum security campus New York State prison in the town of Attica, New York. The prison was hailed as a model for the confinement of the most dangerous criminals.

McNeil Island, an isolated fortress rising from Puget Sound's chilly waters 40 miles south of Seattle, has been the scene of daring escapes and intense violence and home to train robbers, gangsters, and even politicians. Interviewees include a former inmate who attempted to escape and former wardens. Paul Sorvino narrates.

The Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola, opened in 1901. It is a brutal maximum-security prison known as the 'Bloodiest Prison in America.' Most of the facility's 6,300 inmates will never see the outside world again.

East Jersey State Prison, originally Rahway State Prison, was established in 1896 as the first reformatory in New Jersey. In 1901, it opened as a reform school for young offenders. In 1948, idealism gave way to reality and Rahway was turned into a maximum security prison for the toughest prisoners in the state. Among its alumni is boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. East Jersey is the prison where school-aged teens embark on the ultimate field trip -- a visit to the program "Scared Straight."