Britain's Notorious Prisons - Season 1
Season 1
Episodes
Strangeways
First in a series of two documentaries about Britain's Notorious Prisons.
Using first-hand testimony from past inmates and staff, this episode describes how Manchester's Strangeways became one of the UK's most notorious jails.
A high security prison, Strangeways has housed some of the country's most dangerous convicts - including serial killers Ian Brady and Harold Shipman.
The prison was also infamous in the past for its Dickensian and degrading conditions, including overcrowding (three to a cell designed for one) and the practice of slopping out, where a bucket in each cell was shared as a toilet, and then emptied out in sluices with unsanitary consequences.
The programme shines a light on the 1990 riot, which decimated the prison as inmates took over for 25 days, as well as scandalous tales of prison officer behaviour and the overt racism which took place behind the prison walls in the seventies and eighties.
Wormwood Scrubs
Second in a series of two documentaries about Britain's Notorious Prisons.
Past inmates and staff speak exclusively to ITV exposing how London's Wormwood Scrubs became one of the UK's most notorious jails.
The jail has housed some of the country's most famous inmates, from Rolling Stone Keith Richards to pop star Pete Doherty, whose jail term was mired in controversy after a secretly taken photograph of him reportedly taking drugs on the prison's detox wing appeared on the front page of The Sun.
From drug smuggling to mental health issues, the programme looks into the key issues Wormwood Scrubs faces on a day to day basis.
Many of London's major criminals have spent time in the Scrubs - including the Krays - whilst the prison has also housed some of the nation's most dangerous serial killers, including the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and Donald Neilson the Black Panther.
The jail has also been notorious for its levels of violence. As with other prisons that serve the local courts, a volatile mix of prisoners can be stirred up by an unpredictable daily intake.
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