A prison break is a high-profile event, because regardless of the regime, prisoners are kept in cells and are subject to round-the-clock surveillance. It seems completely impossible to escape from a special regime colony, where criminals are kept in separate cells. However, this also happens from time to time.
In 2016, there was an escape from the Black Dolphin, a prison where people who have committed particularly serious crimes serve their sentences. Most of them are rapists, terrorists or murderers.
The story of the "Black Dolphin"
We are talking about one of the oldest colonies in the Russian Federation. This prison was founded under Catherine II. It appeared in 1773 and was originally intended to contain those robbers who were caught as a result of the suppression of the Pugachev rebellion.
The name “Black Dolphin” appeared much later - a distinctive feature of correctional colony No. 6 is the sculpture of a black dolphin installed in the courtyard.
In the mid-2000s, a new building was erected, the construction of which cost about 60 million rubles. Today, the Black Dolphin Penitentiary is designed to house more than one and a half thousand prisoners.
Prison Break: Final Escape (2009, USA)
Genre:
thriller, action, drama, crime
Directors:
Kevin Hooks, Brad Turner
Screenplay:
Paul Scheuring (TV series "Prison Break")
Cast:
Dominic Purcell, Wentworth Miller, Amaury Nolasco
KinoPoisk:
8
IMDb:
7.9
By the way, about “Escape”. This series, whose composer was Ramin Djawadi, adored by the audience, became so popular that based on it, a novel, an official magazine (where is my 2007) and a video game were released, and two episodes of the fourth season were combined into a feature-length film. They didn’t get creative with the name and simply repeated the name of the original series twice. But there are many interesting twists in the plot: there is the return ala Jon Snow, and a beautiful wedding on the seashore, and criminal adventures, and a woman’s revenge as cold as the heart of an ex, and self-sacrifice on the level of Nicholas Sparks. In general, this film is full of tension, taking the viewer into the barbed wire. Stern and gloomy, just like in the series itself. And yes, it will be difficult for those completely unfamiliar with the TV project and its characters to immerse themselves in the events of the film.
Trailer:
Who managed to escape from the Black Dolphin?
In the entire history of Correctional Colony No. 6, only one person managed to escape from here. He became Alexander Alexandrovich Alexandrov, a 32-year-old criminal convicted of robbery. He was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison, and by the time of his escape he had served most of the sentence. He had only 9 months left before his release.
Alexander had motives to escape from prison. According to one version, he decided to escape due to family problems. However, this did not become a reason to reduce the punishment - after his capture, Alexander received another 4 years in prison for escape.
Experiment (2001, Germany)
Genre:
thriller
Director:
Oliver Hirschbiegel (one of the directors of "Commissioner Rex")
Script:
Mario Giordano
Cast:
Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, Oliver Stokowski
KinoPoisk:
7.7
IMDb:
7.7
In 1971, a Stanford University scientist conducted a psychological experiment: he collected male volunteers, divided them by lot into prisoners and guards, and then placed everyone in the conditions of a real prison, organized in the basement of the university. The experiment, designed to last two weeks, had to be interrupted after six days, because every third guard began to show sadistic tendencies, two of the prisoners were subjected to severe shock and left the experiment just a few days later, and many of the remaining prisoners received serious psycho-emotional trauma. As a result, Philip Zimbardo, the organizer of the experiment, used the results of his cruel scientific reality as evidence that the situation can influence a person’s behavior more than his personal qualities. Having gained power and absolute superiority, the guards became terrible monsters, for whom it was a pleasure to humiliate and punish prisoners. Many of the supervisors were very upset that the experiment had to be interrupted. It’s even worse with prisoners: psychologically healthy and stable men stopped feeling like full-fledged people in a couple of days, and when the guards offered their victims a choice: either everyone refused blankets, or one of the prisoners spent the night in a punishment cell, the majority refused to help their comrade and preferred remnants of personal comfort to the rescue of a cellmate. Bottom line: a prison system in which prisoners lose a sense of their own worth, and guards have unlimited power, is bad in itself, and even good people, having found themselves in such living conditions, degrade into biological waste.
The film is based on the events of the Stanford experiment (the authenticity of which is now questioned), described in the novel Black Box by Mario Giordano. There is much more blood and violence in the film version than in reality, so Zimbardo's main idea is emphasized here with a thick red line. The Norwegian prison system, with its spacious and bright rooms, opportunities for creativity and shopping, seems like a particularly good idea after watching this movie.
Trailer:
By the way, in 2010, an American remake of the film was released with Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker, and the director was Paul Scheuring, the screenwriter of one of the most famous TV series about prison, Prison Break.
How Alexandrov managed to escape from the “Black Dolphin”
In practice, everything turned out to be much simpler than one might have expected. Today the institution operates three modes:
- special – intended for life-sentenced prisoners;
- strict - for those who have committed serious crimes;
- settlement (lighter conditions of detention are provided here).
While in a settlement, a convicted person can move freely around the city and live in settlements located near the colony. The main thing is to check in regularly.
In colony settlements there is no perimeter security, and the escort procedure is not carried out. Convicts may wear civilian clothing that does not have identification tags. The number of dates is not limited. There are also no restrictions on spending personal funds and receiving parcels. Only drugs and alcohol are prohibited.
It was from the settlement that Alexander Alexandrov fled. Around 5 p.m., he left the plant where he was producing cinder blocks.
Mode
The daily routine in a special regime colony is carefully verified and does not allow the slightest deviation from the established rules:
- 6:00. Climb. Prisoners have about half an hour to wash, tidy up the cell (the cleanliness of the area is maintained on their own) and make the bed in accordance with the requirements, which are quite specific here: the mattress is folded in half along the length of the bed, the edging is beaten - this is done for so that the space can be viewed as much as possible through the bed bars through the peephole, without opening the doors and without employees of the institution entering the cell.
- Breakfast from 6:30
- At 7:15, the electrical sockets in the cells are turned on, and the prisoners can shave - for personal hygiene, only electric razors are allowed to be used; inmates do not have machines with blades for obvious reasons. Also at this time you can boil water and drink tea - of course, if you have such a luxury by prison standards as tea leaves.
- 8:00 – the radio turns off, the morning check begins.
- 9:00 — at the end of the morning check, prisoners with health problems are escorted for a medical examination.
- At 10:00 a walk begins, the duration of which is limited to one and a half or two hours, depending on the behavior of the convicted person. At the same time, the cameras are being searched.
- 13:00 - dinner.
- 13:50 - cleaning cells.
- From 14:00 to 17:00 the radio in the cells is turned on again.
- 18:00 - dinner (40 minutes).
- 20:00 - evening check, the procedure is the same as in the morning.
- 20:30 - Reconnected sockets and radios are available to prisoners.
- 22:00 - lights out. The long-awaited time when you can finally use a bed that has been unavailable throughout the day - from getting up to lights out, convicts are prohibited from going to bed or even sitting in beds.
During the day, the cameras are inspected through the peephole at least every 15 minutes.
Law Abiding Citizen (2009, USA)
Genre:
thriller, action, drama, crime
Director:
F. Gary Gray (“Fast and Furious 8”)
Screenplay:
Kurt Wimmer (“Total Recall,” “Equilibrium”)
Cast:
Jamie Foxx, Gerard Butler
KinoPoisk:
8
IMDb:
7.4
Clyde Shelton experienced a terrible thing: his wife and daughter were killed right before his eyes. The criminals were caught, but there was little evidence, and as a result, one of the scum was sentenced to death, and the other, the one who acted directly according to Oberyn Martel’s algorithm (murdered, raped, killed a child), was sentenced to only three years. The rage of the man who lost his family was met with the concrete indifference of the prosecutor. The justice system calmly swallowed its next mistake and began to dismember the next victims, but Clyde will not forgive the world for such injustice. Ten years after the verdict, Shelton begins a large-scale war against the system, and now Clyde no longer cares about the random innocents who stand in the way of his revenge. Shelton kills in a sophisticated way, and even arrest and solitary confinement cannot stop the maniac who has decided to punish the police, bandits and judges for their sins at any cost.
Trailer:
Escape from Pretoria (2020, UK, Australia)
Genre:
thriller
Creator:
Francis Annan
Starring:
Dantel Radcliffe, Ian Hunt (both from Rowling's mother's cinematic universe), Daniel Webber
KinoPoisk:
6.7
IMDb:
6.8
Next on the list is a story about how Harry Potter and Professor Quirrell encountered something worse than Voldemort. And this film is also based on real events of the 70s - it was a terrible time.
Tim Jenkim and Stephen Lee fight against apartheid in South Africa and for this they end up in one of the strictest South African prisons. On the very first day of imprisonment, the guys decide to escape, and then the classic escape movie begins: come up with a plan, create a key, quickly move your feet. Dry, without any drama. Before “Shawshank” “Pretoria” is like Sarik Andreasyan before Frank Darabont, but for fans of the genre it’s worth watching.
Trailer:
Big Stan (2007, USA)
Genre:
comedy, action
Director:
Rob Schneider
Screenplay
Josh Lieb
Starring
: Rob Schneider (“Animal,” “Call Man”), David Carradine (Bill at the hands of Uma Thurman), Jennifer Morrison (“Once Upon a Time,” “ Doctor House")
KinoPoisk:
6.9
IMDb:
6.2
It's time to dilute the dirt and blackness in this top with laughter. Rob Schneider made a somewhat dirty and dark, but not bad prison comedy - a great way to talk about serious things in a language accessible to the masses.
Stan is a fraudulent realtor who does not hesitate to deceive poor old women and profit from the misfortunes of ghetto residents. But one day Stan makes a mistake, and now the swindler faces a decent sentence. A realtor spoiled by his rich life is horrified at the thought of what awaits him, so handsome, in prison. But Stan is not used to whining and feeling sorry for himself - instead, the hero finds a martial arts master and begins active preparation for life behind bars. And this was fully justified: soon the pacifist Stan will have to meet with a group of aggressive Mexicans, a gang of racists and a company of African-American rapists. We'll have to bring light and goodness to the local guys using hand-to-hand combat.
Trailer:
Prophet (2009, France, Italy)
Genre:
drama, crime
Director:
Jacques Audiard (“The Sisters Brothers”, “Rust and Bone”)
Script:
Thomas Bidegen (“The Sisters Brothers”)
Cast:
Tahar Rahim, Nils Arestrup, Adele Bensherif
KinoPoisk:
7.5
IMDb:
7.9
Malik is nineteen. This Arab youth cannot read or write, he has neither friends nor relatives, but he has a sentence - six years in a French prison. It seems that the guy simply will not live to see the end of his sentence: Malik’s age, character, and appearance give him another disappointing sentence. But the leader of the Corsicans group, Luciano, decides to play with a new toy and gives Malik a number of difficult assignments. And again it seems that the young Arab is doomed - one mistake, and the life of an unknown, inconspicuous teenager will end somewhere in a dirty concrete box on the outskirts of a foreign country. But Malik survives and becomes a respected member of the local mafia. And in the plot a silent question emerges: is prison a place that should correct?
Trailer:
The film won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and nine awards at the Cesar Awards (the French Oscars), including Best Film, Best Actor, Best Director, Cinematography and Best Screenplay.
Shot into the Void (2015, USA)
Genre:
thriller, drama, crime
Creator:
Rick Roman Waugh
Starring:
Nikolaj Coster Waldau (Jamie “Golden Arms” Lannister), Omari Hardwick (“The A-Team”) Lake Bell, Jon Bernthal (“Ford v Ferreri”)
KinoPoisk:
7.4
IMDb:
7.3
A crime boss nicknamed Bublos is released on parole. A long mustache, an indifferent look, tattoos, a masterful command of slang - nothing in the image of this criminal betrays him as a former successful financier, a faithful husband, a caring father and a man who honestly wanted to atone for his monstrous mistake. As in the previous story, Jacob Harlon’s life collapsed suddenly: Jacob got behind the wheel while drunk, got into an accident, and as a result of the collision, a passenger, Haron’s friend, who was returning from the restaurant with him, died. For criminal negligence and manslaughter, Harlon receives eighteen months, which ultimately stretches to nine years. The counter went up because Jacob realized on his first day behind bars that he had to play dirty or die outright. As an experienced stockbroker, Harlon understood that in any game the main thing is to clearly understand the rules and quickly find a loophole in them. Following the prison laws of survival, Jacob joins an influential gang of racists and carries out all the orders of the local authority: from transporting drugs in his own body to killing an informer. So Harlon increased his prison term and as a result became the right hand of the gang leader.
Trailer:
Once free, the hero will have to pull off a large-scale case for his boss, and the viewer will have to wonder whether there is at least something left of Jacob Harlon left in Bablos, or have the wolf laws killed the man in man?
