With more thieves, drug dealers and addicts entering each month, how do under-resourced staff cope when a prison reaches breaking point?
In Utah State Prison one in four of the prisoner population has gang ties. Gangs battling gangs and extreme loyalty - but this time it's behind bars
Phoenix, Arizona prides itself on keeping jail costs low, making inmates labour for their upkeep in the nation's only chain gang.
Follow three new recruits as they face the challenges of officer training at the tough and isolated prison in Rawlins, Wyoming.
Ironwood Correctional Facility is set in the middle of the desert. When a riot breaks out, the 81 prisoners have some tough decisions to make.
Iowa separates its youthful offenders from their hardened adult prisons. But is housing 1,100 young convicts together a breeding ground for trouble?
Pelican Bay State Prison is home to some of the world's most dangerous gang members. From behind bars, leaders of gangs still run their organisations.
North Carolina's Alexander Correctional Institution is a fortress that houses some of America's most hardened criminals. Tough rules and regulations make it a prison all convicts want to avoid.
Rival white and Mexican gangs have turned California's Salinas Valley State Prison into a war zone. What will happen when the lockdown, imposed since two prison officers were stabbed, is lifted?
California's Valley State Prison houses nearly 4,000 female inmates. Enter a world riddled with drugs and danger, where hundreds of babies are born to incarcerated mums.
Built in 1925 and aging badly, Stateville Correctional is a dangerous place filled with dangerous men, nearly all serving 20 years minimum.
Prison is hard, but getting out can be even harder. Most inmates leave with less than $200, needing a job and a bed before the cash runs out.
At the Wayne County Jail, officers and counsellors struggle to rehabilitate female offenders, including thieves, drug addicts and prostitutes.
Colorado's Youthful Offender System aims to break down criminal habits and gang mentalities, from first-time convicts to street-savvy veterans.
Even Alaska has its share of bad guys, from drunk drivers to sex offenders, robbers to murderers, and there are 12 prisons to house them.
With sex offenders making up 75 per cent of its inmates, Fremont Correctional Facility is one of Colorado's most complicated prisons.
Drunk drivers, drug dealers, petty thieves and killers make trouble for themselves and officers processing them in St Louis County Jail's open central booking area, before they're assigned to cells.
Behind the big electric fence at one Colorado prison, inmates have resorted to classic convict behaviour. Gangs and other illegal activities flourish here, posing serious problems for officers.
Just south of the US-Mexico border, notorious Mexican prison Cedes houses a number of criminals linked to dangerous and influential drug cartels.
Meet the officers trying to protect Cuyahoga County Jail from the spread of the Heartless Felons – one of Ohio's deadliest prison gangs.
Go inside one of America’s most dangerous prisons where hardened criminals may be female, but it's just as difficult to keep them in line.
Officers at Denver County Jail must transfer gangbangers to a new facility, dealing with homemade weapons, the criminally insane and a triple murderer who’s found a way to stop his cell from locking.
Bexar County Jail in San Antonio, Texas is in the middle of a gang war between the highly organised Mexican Mafia and the young, hot-headed Tango Orejons who used to do the Mafia’s dirty work.
With room for 4,000 inmates, Hillsborough County Jail is one of the biggest in Florida. The biggest threat from its addicts, burglars and murderers isn’t drugs or gangs, it’s attacks against officers.
Sacramento County Jail faces a huge problem: maintaining order in a highly overcrowded prison full of inmates accused of everything from drugs to kidnapping to torture, with very few officers.
As Portland Police arrest more thieves, drug dealers and addicts, the jail runs out of room for its 700 inmates. Lacking space, staff and the resources to house new prisoners, where will they fit?
