These are six of the toughest prisons in the world. Prisons so tough, even gang bosses and killers learn the meaning of fear. Across four continents, six different prisons, the series "Behind Bars - the World's Toughest Prisons”, takes us beyond the gates, walls, barred windows and cells into an unknown world, a world we know exists, but a world nobody wants to think about. Rules and rigid routine in some, total anarchy in others, making it hell on earth for every inmate. Each episode delves into the world of prisoners: newcomers who spend their first night in jail, mothers who have to raise their children behind bars, felons waiting for a court to decide their fate. Their lives are always in someone else’s hands.