Recently coming to an end in the US, 60 Days in Jail has now found its UK broadcasting home with Channel 4. Bringing seven innocent members of American society to Clark County Jail and embedding them within the prison system for 60 days, the participants will do their best to find out which parts of the system are working well, but which have more room for work and need improvements.
60 Days in Jail, Thursdays on Channel 4
Though some may find it irresponsible to put seven law-abiding citizens behind bars with a variety of different criminals who have all been arrested for unique crimes, this is certainly a fascinating project and study into exactly what goes on when inmates believe they're in the safety of their equals.
Not only will the participants be looking to find out how the inmates collect their drugs, get into so many fights and fight back against the system, but they'll be looking into how the prison officers engage with those they're looking after and exposing any corruption that goes on within the officials.
A production crew are on location at all times using the cover of creating a documentary of first-timers going to jail, and all-new cameras are installed around the jail so footage can be captured from every angle, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
County Sheriff Jamey Noel is the man behind the new program. When he first came to Clark County Jail, he reveals that the prison was ran entirely by the inmates, and so he was tasked with bringing things back around and returning the status quo. Fortunately, he's managed to do a good job, but he feels like he still has a lot of work to do, and so come in the seven innocents.
At times the show feels exploitative and you'll be wondering where everybody's morals really are, but at the same time this is utterly compelling television that I'll be sticking with for the weeks to come.
60 Days in Jail continues Thursdays on Channel 4 at 10pm.