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Within the first forty years of operation, the Soviet Gulag system imprisons at least 18 million people and kills more than one and a half million; three tales of the fight for survival.

Prison Chronicles

The Soviet Gulag

Located in the heart of London on the River Thames, the Tower of London's reputation for torture and beheadings fuels nightmares; originally built as a fortress by William the Conqueror in 1078, it becomes a prison in 1101.

Tower of London

In the heart of the Confederacy, Andersonville was the last place a Union soldier wanted to end up during the Civil War; only opened for 14 months, becoming the final resting place for over 12,000 men.

Andersonville

France ships prisoners to Devil's Island located off French Guiana so they would vanish from the public eye; Alfred Dreyfus, is a military officer is convicted of crimes he didn't commit.

Devil's Island

Leavenworth, located 25-miles northwest of Kansas City, K.S., was the largest maximum-security federal prison in the United States for over a hundred years; Carl Panzram, Robert Stroud and Tommy Silverstein share stories of life behind its walls.

Leavenworth

Attica, a 90-year-old maximum-security prison in upstate New York, has a legacy of violence and inmate abuse stretching back decades; stories include the serial killer Son of Sam who gets his throat slashed, a successful escape, and a riot.

Attica

San Quentin located in Marin County on the San Francisco Bay is California's oldest prison dating back to the gold rush, and home to the state's only gas chamber.

San Quentin

Dannemora prison opens in 1845 as a source of free labor for the local mines; Kenneth Kimes takes a Court TV producer hostage; Tupac Shakur stirs up trouble; Richard Matt and David Sweat attempt to escape.

Dannemora

A maximum-security prison on the banks of the Hudson, just 30 miles north of New York City, gives rise to the saying, being sent up the river.

Sing Sing

On the Hanoi Hilton, an American POW prison of the Vietnam War located in the city of Hanoi, Vietnam; captives include John McCain, the group of airmen who invent a secret communication code, and Jerimiah Denton who sneaks messages home on live TV.

Hanoi Hilton

On ADX, "Alcatraz of the Rockies" located in Florence, Colorado, Ishmael Petty attacks the staff; Tommy Silverstein finds a way to communicate with Ramzi Youssef; an inmate starves himself to protest the prison's policies.

Three stories of men willing to take risks to escape the cold, dark cells of "the Rock"; six convicts organize a jailbreak; three men attempt an elaborate breakout.

Alcatraz

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Inside the history and inner workings of prisons; covering institutions from the Tower of London to the high-tech ADX through interviews with journalists, former correctional officers and previously incarcerated individuals.

S1 E12 | The Soviet Gulag