America's Hardest Prisons

Viewers are plunged headfirst into life in the `big house', the gritty underworld of America's maximum-security prisons, where gangs are prevalent, predators stalk their next prey and inmates are armed with deadly weapons. But prison officials have their own weapons in the form of modern surveillance and old-time isolation - plus steel batons and pepper spray - to help keep the peace in these miniature war zones.