As of 2020, a total of 53 countries still has the death penalty as capital punishment.
But you might think twice whether or not serving time is indeed the more humane
sentence once you see the dreadful conditions of these facilities from around the world.
Peele: Hey man, where you going? Oohh…
Let’s see how long you can survive inside these 9 of the World’s Toughest Prisons.
What's up, fact-natics! This is Discovery Amuse,
serving up your daily dose of the most outrageous, outlandish, and out-of-this-world fun facts!
Stay tuned for number one because that penitentiary is more like a sneak preview of hell!
#9: Gitarama Prison - Rwanda
Retribution, incapacitation, and rehabilitation –– these are the main purposes of the prison system.
But incapacitation takes on a more literal meaning in Rwanda's Gitarama Prison.
At some point in its history, the facility meant for only 400 people housed more than
7,000 prisoners that the inmates literally have to be standing
all the time inside their prison cells. It’s so severely overcrowded that some of prisoners’
feet start rotting after standing on the filthy ground for hours on end.
Man: It’s really a problem, many
people sleep standing up, others sleep sitting down like these people here.
And with just a single full-time doctor tending to their needs, some of the people who require
amputations cannot receive treatments and are left to suffer until they die. The deplorable
situation is further worsened by the deadly brawls that occur behind bars. Some reports
even say that the prisoners eat the dead bodies of the killed inmates in order to survive.
If you think that’s horrible, keep watching ‘til number one to see the most
terrifying pit of chaos and despair known to man.
#8: Nairobi Prison - Kenya
If you’ve seen one of those overly crowded trains in India, then imagine living that kind
of congestion day in and day out. That’s exactly the living hell inmates have to
experience Kenya's Nairobi prison, once known as the worst packed prison in the entire country.
The filthy concrete cages there are designed to only hold up to three people, but they're
left with no choice but to squeeze 12 inmates in there. Even 250 short-term prisoners are forced
to stay in a room designed for only 50 people. And the lack of space isn't the only problem:
disease, violence, and systemic abuse are all rife in this correctional center.
#7: San Juan de Lurigancho Prison - Peru
This facility in Lima, Peru is no stranger to caging more felons than it’s designed to hold. The
capacity is just 2,500, but the population climbed up to 11,500 at one point. But more than the
overcrowding issue is the uncontrollable violence permeating inside the facility. Prison guards are
just so outnumbered by the aggressive inmates, some of whom have no regard for human lives.
In fact, the penitentiary made headlines in 1986 when 90 inmates were killed during a prison riot.
man: It’s very difficult for 100 people to control 10,000.
There's a high chance that you won't get out alive once you're sentenced to spend your years
rotting away inside its dingy, crumbling walls. And it’s been
difficult for correction officers to separate the hardened criminals from petty offenders.
Man: In the summertime, you can hardly breathe down here. Hey it’s difficult.
#6: Russia’s Alcatraz
Situated in Fire Island within the Vologda region of Russia,
the Pyatak Prison, a.k.a. the "Alcatraz of Russia"
is home to some of Russia's hardest, most dangerous criminals who are serving life terms.
Man: Detained behind these walls, there are 189 men, each of them has been sentenced to
life. Terrorists, serial killers, sex offenders, gang bosses and murderers.
For the lifers, their cells might as well be their mausoleums because despite the possibility
of parole after 25 years theoretically, it has never really happened yet. While congestion is
the least of their worries, they face an even tougher punishment--- psychological anguish.
The well-behaved inmates are allowed just two visitors per year, and prisoners are kept in
two-man rooms for more than 22 hours per day. Breaking rules even earns them tighter isolation:
15 days in a small, dark room with only a metal bucket and a wooden perch to sit on.
#5: ADX Florence (Colorado)
Notorious gang leaders, foreign and domestic terrorists all had their share of the misery
and pain inflicted within the impenetrable fortress of the USP Florence ADMAX in Colorado.
The facility is known to have the strictest security measures in all of America,
as it should have given its high-profile inmates that include Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman,
the Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Ted “Unabomber” Kaczynski.
Man: In our system, there’s 114 prisons,
and there’s only one supermax. It’s like the Harvard of the system.
The supermax prison makes sure that the most dangerous criminals don't escape
and that no one can come in to break them out. For the ultra-dangerous convicts,
there’s even a supermax within this supermax--tiny cells called Range 13 that only has a small
four-inch by four-feet slit of a window as their lone source of natural light,
and where human contact is virtually impossible. And even if you’re the beacon of good behavior,
you only get 1 monitored phone call a month for only 15 minutes tops.
One inmate describes the brutality of the confinement as this.
Man: It breaks down the human spirit, it breaks down the human psyche.
#4: Rikers Island (New York)
Man: They treat us like animals here. Diane:
What did you say? Man: They treat us like animals.
It’s the third-largest jail facility in the US, where local offenders with short sentences or
those awaiting trial or transfer are sent. Still, for a place with low-grade felons,
Rikers made it to our list of toughest prisons, no thanks to its history of systemic abuse.
Solitary confinement, or as they’d prefer to call it, “punitive segregation,” is commonly
imposed on ill-behaved inmates. Agitated prisoners retaliate by way of “splashing,”
where they throw urine at correction officers through milk cartons.
Man: This is what we have to deal with in here with inmates like that.
There is rampant gang violence among the jailbirds, but even more concerning is the
alleged use of brute force by the guards, as seen in some clips that went viral in the past.
Man: Everybody has an opinion about what goes on and stuff in here, but 9 times out of 10, anybody
that has negative to say about a corrections officer have not even been inside a facility.
#3: La Santé Prison - France
You know it's a red flag when people would rather die than fight for survival.
La Sante Prison is one of those hopeless places
where prisoners prefer to perish than be trapped in for a long time.
In here, it's kill or be killed. Weaker prisoners are known to be turned into slaves
by those atop the hierarchy inside the cells. Rife with violence, depravity, and brutality,
many inmates have opted for an easier way out by swallowing
drain cleaner and rat poison to escape their hellish existence.
Inmates only spend four hours a day outside of their cells, and those with prison jobs usually
work in their cells. If this doesn't drive you crazy, well, there's no shortage of other ways
to lose your mind, like isolation without water or any form of sustenance for almost a month.
#2: Bangkok Hilton
Man: We use our batons to check how the bars sound.
The officers do this in the Bang Kwang Prison in Thailand to see whether one of
the bars sounds off, ‘coz in that case, someone might have filed through it.
Ironically known as the "Bangkok Hilton," this penitentiary is home to over 8,000 lifers,
both foreign and local, who committed the gravest crimes.
Man: I’d say the beds must be about that big, and 5 five foot. My feet are sticking out the bed.
You’re always touching someone in the room. It’s really hard.
As if the lack of proper meals, the overcrowded cells, and the shackles between the prisoner’s
ankles aren’t enough torture, the guards have reportedly been seen beating mentally ill and
elderly inmates. It’s also believed that 1 out of 10 prisoners here have shown suicidal tendencies.
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#1: La Sabaneta Prison - Venezuela
Former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez
dubbed La Sabaneta as the "gateway to the fifth circle of hell."
The country ranks pretty high up in the world rankings in terms of homicide rate. And where
do those murderers end up? You got it right. More than 3,700 of them are packed like sardines in La
Sabaneta in Maracaibo, a facility that can only hold up to 700 prisoners at a time.
One guard is responsible for keeping 150 inmates in line, and with the reputation of
those jailbirds, I doubt the guards can hold up. A rigid, gang-controlled hierarchy with a strict
“thug code” reigns within its filthy walls. Poor, low-status inmates are
forced to pay the more powerful inmates even just to secure a place to sleep.
man: Thugs have a criminal court system. The sentence might be death or me might just get shot
in the stomach.
This sounds like a set-up to a macabre film,
but the reality is reflected in the prison's bloodstained history. In 1994,
108 prisoners were killed in a brutal riot that left the prison scorched
black. Gang violence has also led to dismembered inmates, even some literally losing their heads.
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You know who deserves to be thrown behind bars? The perps behind the
9 Most Gruesome Crimes That Were Never Solved!
‘Til then, stay out of trouble, fact-natics! And see you in the next video!