Inside the World's Toughest Prisons

1. Honduras

Air Date: 2016-04-20

Paul Connolly heads to Honduras, the murder capital of the world, to spend a week living as a prisoner inside one of the most dangerous prisons - Danli Prison.

2. Poland

Air Date: 2016-04-27

Connolly serves time in Poland's Piotrkow prison, a maximun security lockup where the country's most hardened criminals stay in cells 23 hours a day.

3. Mexico

Air Date: 2016-03-03

Mexico's el Hongo prison is home to murderers, hitmen, drug bossess and -- for one week -- Paul Connolly, who experiences life among the inmates.

4. Philippines

Air Date: 2016-05-04

Connolly spends time in two different prisons in the Philippines, where overcrowding, gangs and severe intimidation are a way of life.

1. Brazil: The Gang Prison

Air Date: 2018-07-06

Investigative journalist Raphael Rowe spends a few days -- both as a guard and a prisoner -- inside Brazil's gang-filled Porto Velho Penitentiary.

2. Ukraine: The Prison in a War Zone

Air Date: 2018-07-06

Ukraine's Zhytomyr Prison is operated with a skeleton crew that allows prisoners to freely roam the grounds -- often with potentially dangerous weapons.

3. Papua New Guinea: The Breakout Prison

Air Date: 2018-07-06

Raphael Rowe visits the short-staffed Bomana Prison in Papua New Guinea, where near-constant food shortages keep the facility on the brink of chaos.

4. Belize: The Prison That Found God

Air Date: 2018-07-06

In Belize Central Prison, the inmates are told that rehabilitation comes through God. Raphael Rowe investigates if this evangelical approach works.

1. Costa Rica: Prison on a Knife-Edge

Air Date: 2018-12-14

Though he's no stranger to life behind bars, Raphael Rowe concedes that Costa Rica's La Reforma Prison is certainly among the most intimidating.

2. Colombia: Narco Prison

Air Date: 2018-12-14

While spending a week inside Bogotá's fortress-like prison, Raphael Rowe must negotiate the oppressive atmosphere and deal with an ominous threat.

3. Romania: Gypsy Prison

Air Date: 2018-12-14

Raphael Rowe spends a week at a maximum security prison in Craiova, Romania, where the inmates include rapists, murderers and contract killers.

4. Norway: The Perfect Prison?

Air Date: 2018-12-14

Many prisons aim to punish and demean inmates. Norway's Halden Prison -- as Raphael Rowe is about to see for himself -- does things differently.

1. Paraguay: The Most Dangerous Prison on Earth

Air Date: 2020-07-29

Raphael Rowe spends a week behind bars at Tacumbu prison in Paraguay, where inmates scrounge in the trash in order to pay their own way.

2. Germany: The Therapy Prison

Air Date: 2020-07-29

Schwalmstadt, a 12th-century fortress surrounded by a moat, houses some of Germany's worst offenders, many of whom attend intense therapy sessions.

3. Mauritius: The Extreme Punishment Prison

Air Date: 2020-07-29

The tropical island of Mauritius is home to Melrose maximum security prison, where even the smallest infraction is met with extreme punishment.

4. Lesotho: Confronting Sexual Violence

Air Date: 2020-07-29

An unnerved Rowe contends with aggressive cellmates at Maseru prison, where a high number of inmates are behind bars for rape.

1. South Africa: The Number Gangs Prison

Air Date: 2021-01-08

At Brandvlei Correctional Centre in South Africa, nearly all the convicts belong to dangerous gangs known for lethal stabbings.

2. Philippines: The War on Drugs Prison

Air Date: 2021-01-08

Once again, Raphael Rowe volunteers to go behind bars, this time in the Philippines at Manila City Jail, one of the world's most overcrowded prisons.

3. Greenland: Prison in the Ice

Air Date: 2021-01-08

Greenland's Nuuk maximum security prison houses extremely dangerous prisoners, many of whom grew up alongside the guards now watching over them.

1. Moldova: The Lifers Prison

Air Date: 2022-09-28

2. Cyprus: The Utopian Prison

Air Date: 2022-09-28

3. Bosnia: The Mafia Prison

Air Date: 2022-09-28

4. Greece: The People Smugglers Prison

Air Date: 2022-09-28

1. Finland: The Free Choice Prison

Air Date: 2023-09-15

At Finland's Kylmäkoski prison, Raphael meets violent offenders in the general population wing and bonds with the inmates, while a newcomer is attacked.

2. Czech Republic: The Crystal Meth Prison

Air Date: 2023-09-15

Surrounded by many inmates who struggle with crystal meth addiction, Raphael enters the Pilsen prison and discovers that some habits are hard to break.

3. Indonesia: The re-programming drug prison

Air Date: 2023-09-15

Raphael gets a rare look inside Bangli prison, where drug offenders are forced to join a rehabilitation program and isolation is used as punishment.

4. Solomon Islands: God’s Own Prison

Air Date: 2023-09-15

At the Rove maximum security prison, many of the inmates serve time for sexual offenses while navigating grim conditions and extremely limited resources.