Despite mobile phones being illegal in jails many prisoners are using them to document their lives inside sometimes posting videos on social media. That footage might make you think life’s easy on the inside but the footage shown in this latest documentary exposes the reality for many inmates – fights, weapons, bullying, drugs and self-harm.
Presenter David Navarro served time for armed robbery and drug offences and filmed his time inside. Now he's out, he's determined to discourage his peers ending up in prison.
With a focus on 16–34-year-olds David speaks exclusively to former inmates behind some of these videos as The Secret Lives of Prisons reveals the unfiltered truth about life behind bars.
British prisons have long been characterised in the media as a ‘holiday camp’ with three hot meals a day, a warm cell and a bed. Former prisoner David Navarro, who spent almost ten years in prison, lays bare the reality of life inside. The sheer volume of drugs, fights, bullying and self-harm is exposed using footage filmed by inmates on illegally smuggled in mobile phones.
David meets four men who have all recently been released from prison. The former prisoners talk openly about the amount of contraband found in UK prisons; from drugs to knives to phones, it’s clear the prison officers aren’t successfully stopping these items from getting into prisons. Interviews are interspersed with shocking secretly filmed footage showing prisoners overdosing on the synthetic drug Spice, flaunting huge homemade knives and showing their hiding places for their smuggled phones.
Part of C4's acclaimed youth skewing current affairs UNTOLD strand. Other titles include
Trapped in a Gang
Addicted to Drip
My Big Boobs
Secret World of Boy Racers
The Cost of Being a YouTuber