10 Greatest Prison Escape Movies of all Time

From: http://www.popcrunch.com/

Prison break movies are always fun to watch, whether the escapes are made by Allied POWs or just common criminals. It appeals to the subversive side of human nature to see a convict stick it to the system and run free, especially one who the audience knows doesn’t deserve to be locked up in the first place.

Prison break films are very adaptable and can be written to coincide with many different genres, including thrillers, adventure movies and even comedies (as fans of Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times will know). Here we list the ten best jailbreak and POW escape movies of all time.

10. Papillon

The odd, trippy prison break movie that is Papillon stars Steve McQueen as a petty crook who is exiled to the infamous penal colony on Devil’s Island in French Guiana, where existence is a hell of scorching weather, dangerous animals and hideous disease. When your first day starts with hiding a metal cylinder full of money up your ass, you know you aren’t at summer camp… The movie chronicles the protagonist’s many escape attempts over the course of his 14-year sentence, as McQueen goes from… well… Steve McQueen in 1973 to a used-up, white-haired, broken-toothed old man — a bit like The Shawshank Redemption but with fewer posters of actresses to hide the tunnels behind. McQueen does a great job as the title character and absolutely dominates every scene he appears in, despite the formidable acting talent surrounding him (co-star Dustin Hoffman, for example). The dangerous cliff-jumping stunt performed during Papillon’s final escape attempt is also a milestone in cinema. A classic convict film.

9. Midnight Express

A grim and sometimes ultra-violent movie, Midnight Express tells the true story of US citizen Billy Hayes, a real-life figure who made the huge mistake of being caught smuggling hashish out of Istanbul. The would-be drug dealer ends up incarcerated for five years in a Turkish prison, one that turns out to make HBO’s Oz look like a kid’s playpen. The movie is tensely directed (especially at the beginning when the protagonist is trying to take the drugs past customs), and the twist in which Hayes finally manages to escape through sheer luck (after almost getting into serious trouble with the guard) is brilliantly done. Despite the criticism the movie received for its depiction of the Turkish penal system, if you want a real horror story about what can happen when you carry drugs in a foreign country this is definitely your film.

7. Holes

Based on a novel by Louis Sachar, Holes is the story of a wrongly convicted teenage boy sent to a camp in the desert where children are forced to endlessly dig the titular “holes,” day in and day out. This is one movie guaranteed to make you feel hot and tired just watching it… Unlike most Disney adaptations, Holes manages to keep the grittiness and “magical realism” (read: strangeness) of the original book intact, and it also features a hilariously repulsive performance from Jon Voight as the cowboy counselor, Mr. Sir. About the only bad thing you can say about Holes is that it introduced the world to the acting of Shia LaBeouf, who was fine in this movie but should now just go and get trodden on by a big CGI robot already.

7. The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

The 2000s version of Alexandre Dumas’ classic revenge story, The Count of Monte Cristo upped the swashbuckling action while keeping the Bonaparte era intrigue which made the original such a timeless classic. The plot involves naval officer, Edmond Dantès (the titular Count) being betrayed by his friend, Fernand Mondego, and his imprisonment and eventual escape from the dreaded island prison of Chateau d’If. Although this is a period drama of a prison movie, Dante uses the classic POW method to get out: a tunnel under the wall. The movie was hailed by critics as a refreshing return to un-ironic adventure films, after an endless string of more self-aware movies like 1998’s The Man in the Iron Mask. It’s amazing that new audiences can still be introduced to one of the original prison break stories more than 150 years after it was created.

6. La Grande Illusion

“A film about the war where you don’t see any fighting or spying” (a quote from the trailer) may not sound promising for one of the great masterpieces of French cinema, but this story of class, ethnicity and politics told through the lives of POWs in a WWI German prison is a classic for a reason. The movie was controversial when it was released for its anti-war message and, for the time, shocking content, which included soldiers discussing STDs and prostitutes (although modern viewers are more likely to notice some of the frankly homoerotic scenes between the prisoners). There are especially heartbreaking moments during the French prisoners’ escape as the head of the German camp is forced to choose between his respect for the head officer of the prisoners and his duty to his country. La Grande Illusion also has the distinction of having been considered subversive by both the French and the Germans in WWII.

5. Escape to Victory

Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone in the same movie? A soccer movie, even? It sounds like something Caine would have made during his bad old “throw me money and I’ll appear in anything” days, but Escape to Victory is actually a surprisingly decent film. (Very) loosely based on true events, the movie is about a group of WWII POWs and their plan to play a soccer match against their Nazi captors and escape during the game. Despite the distraction of Stallone’s giant, hammy facial expressions, which seem to fill the entire screen at times, most of the film is well put together. There are two really brilliant scenes: the French crowd singing “La Marseillaise” in defiance at the Germans, and the team refusing take the chance to escape in the hopes of winning the game. It’s just like the British to put soccer over everything else, even winning WWII…

4. Stalag 17

Made just eight years after the end of WWII, this film about American airmen interned in a POW camp is now considered an all-time classic. The plot concerns a group of servicemen attempting to survive while doing time, and the efforts of one of them to help a rich prisoner escape and deal with a “stoolie” (the unfortunate WWII name for a spy) who is determined to thwart their plan to break free. For a fairly funny war movie it boasts some impressive acting, with an Academy Award-winning performance from William Holden. Famously, Holden’s acceptance speech for his award was cut to just two words, “Thank you,” due to time constrains. The frustrated star was forced to take out full-page ads in Hollywood magazines in order to thank all of the people he wasn’t able to during his speech (presumably dozens, knowing Oscars speeches…).

3. Escape from Alcatraz

The granddaddy of prison break movies, Escape from Alcatraz starred Clint Eastwood on top form as grizzled master criminal Frank Morris. Imprisoned on the impenetrable island, Morris has a series of clashes with Patrick McGoohan’s smug warden while, as the title suggests, he attempts to escape from Alcatraz. Eastwood tends to play hard-to-like, anti-heroic characters whose only real redeeming trait is that the people they go up against are worse. As here, Clint’s a bank robber trying to break out of a legitimate prison, this is another situation where we really shouldn’t be on the man’s side, but you just have to respect him for his sheer balls. Who but Dirty Harry could break out of jail with a papier-mâché dummy and a spoon? Awesome.

2. The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption has been described as the best film made in the last few decades, and it’s consistently at the head of IMDBs “top 250 films” list as voted for by the public. It’s mostly a good movie but not quite as good as the hype — no film could be. The bad guys are a bit cartoonish. Morgan Freeman’s voiceovers range from inspiring to annoying, and Tim Robbins’ protagonist, Andy Dufresne, is pretty much a blank slate. Yet it’s definitely 100% worth watching for at least one reason: Dufresne’s escape is one of the best executed and most surprising ending in cinema history. It’s unusual for a twist in that it’s not been thrown in for shock value, but is genuinely meaningful and makes the rest of the movie’s message about hope much, much more powerful in retrospect. See it (if for some reason you haven’t) and be sure to bring some tissues for the manly tears…

1. The Great Escape

Most prison and POW movies are very introverted at heart: they are about people struggling against the system, people struggling against their own weaknesses, people struggling with the loneliness of being a convict… That’s why it’s so refreshing that The Great Escape managed to take a true story of a bunch of POWs tunneling out of a WWII era camp and turn it into a full-blown adventure movie instead (though admittedly one with a depressing ending in which practically all the prisoners are all recaptured or killed). From Steve McQueen jumping the wire in an attempt to escape his motorcycle-mounted guards, to the awesome theme music, to the great culture clash scenes in the prison between the American and British prisoners, the movie is full to bursting with great lines and classic moments. Along with the Indiana Jones series, The Great Escape helped to define what fun movie-watching is meant to be about.

Top 5 scariest abandoned prisons from around the world

From: http://www.wackyowl.com/

No one likes prisons or would ever want to go there, but there are some of them around the world so scary that only the name sends shivers down your spine. Many of them were closed after a series of awful events, murders, riots, and are now abandoned.

People have always been attracted by mystery and especially life after death. When strange things begin to happen and you do not find any logical explanation, you start to wonder about spirits or ghosts. There is a whole industry developed on this theory, from TV shows to books. It is said that a human being marks his territory by giving a personal touch to the place he is living in or to the things that he does. But when something terrible happens in a place, like many prisons, they become really scary and a lot of legends and stories appear about those abandoned and so call haunted prisons. There are a lot of movies about those places, and many of them are considered a perfect place for a great scary movie or some kind of reality based movie.

One of these places is Moundsville West Virginia Penitentiary.

This is a gothic style prison that was opened in 1876 and was closed in 1995. This prison housed a large number of inmates, both males and females, and it was built to house the most dangerous criminals at the time. Most of the inmates housed in those 129 years while it was opened died there. Some of them died from natural causes but most of them from violence, suicides or executions. The prison had a so called “death house” where inmates were executed, by hangings at the beginning and by an electric chair later. It is considered one of the scariest places because of the murders, tortures and violence that took place there and it is said that it is not unusual to hear footsteps or frightening noises, screams and cries inside the penitentiary.

Another scary prison is the Ohio State Reformatory, also known as Mansfield Reformatory.

It opened in September 1896 when 150 offenders were housed. Until December 31, 1990, when its doors were shut down, it housed over 155,000 men. It was design as a combination of three architectural styles: Victorian Gothic, Richardsonian Romanesque and Queen Ann and was established as a place where young boys would be reformed in a spiritual way. Sadly, there were other things happening there, violence, sadness, torture, despair, death, so the stories have appeared. Many visitors said that they heard strange noises, conversations, screams, smelled unusual scents or saw apparitions.

The third scary prison is the Frontier Prison from Rawlings, Wyoming.

It also goes by the name “Old Pen”, and it was opened around 1900’s. The prison closed its doors in the early 1980’s and now it is a famous tourist attraction. Many visitors said that there are some places inside the facility that are very emotionally intense. It feels like a very hostile environment and they feel an immense fear. Also, there seem to have been a lot of paranormal activity, such as voices, sounds or apparitions in different places like showers, the Chapel, some cells or the death row.

Another scary prison is the Eastern State Penitentiary.

It is located in Philadelphia and was functional from 1829 until 1971. This prison has housed crime committers and the inmates were not allowed to talk, sing, read or communicate at all or they were punished, not being allowed to have any food or water. Many horrible tortures happened there and it is now believed that the souls of the tortured ones still roam the prison. A lot of screams, cries, or appearances were reported and this negative energy transmitted by this prison makes it one of the scariest.

The most famous abandoned prison is Alcatraz from San Francisco.

This prison, also known as “The Rock” or “Devil’s Island” operated for 29 years and was built on an island in such manner that made escaping impossible. The inmates have endured some inhumane conditions, many of them going insane because of the lack of contact with the outside world or the harsh treatment applied by the prison officials. It is now mentioned in many films or legends because of its unique, scary design and location.

Incarcer-Vacations: 11 Prisons-Turned-Hotels

From: http://www.nileguide.com/

Anyone with even a slight appreciation of irony would enjoy knowing that hellish prisons around the world, closed down because of overcrowding and human-rights abuse, have reopened as posh hotels and kitschy hostels.

Although it does merit a good chuckle, if you think about it the conversions totally make sense. Constructed as grand buildings intended to house lots of people, jails can easily be turned into hotels once the inmates leave and a construction crew makes a few necessary upgrades (Private bathrooms? Yes please!). It’s a wonderful way to preserve classic architecture in a city and honestly, who doesn’t love a well themed hotel bar. Meet you at Alibi– first round’s on us!

1. The Liberty Hotel – Boston, USA

Image: Ben+Sam/Flickr

Although The Liberty Hotel might have the gosh darn coolest design of any hotel on our list, it certainly wasn’t always that way. Back when The Liberty Hotel was the Charles Street Jail, the place was so overcrowded and nasty-gnarly, the US District Court ruled it was unconstitutional for even criminals to live there.

Image: liluinteriors

Constructed in 1851, the Charles Street Jail was designed by famed Boston architect Gridley James Fox Bryant, who created a massive granite structure with an octagonal rotunda, a 90-foot tall atrium, and 30 arched windows that measured 33 feet high. A mix between a Gothic cathedral and a fortress, the Charles Street Jail was once home to Malcolm X, Sacco and Vanzetti, and Boston mayor James Michael Curley.

Image: The Liberty Hotel

After failing inspections, the Charles Street Jail was closed to inmates in 1990 and renovations began to turn it from an all-around dump into one of the swankiest hotels in Boston. The Liberty Hotel maintained the grand exterior and rotunda while totally refurbishing the jail cells into rooms considerably bigger than the original 7 x 10 foot floor plan.

Interested in rubbing shoulders with the “in” crowd without paying the big bucks to spend the night? Grab an appetizer at The Liberty Hotel’s restaurant Clink (teehee) or a drink at their bar, Alibi (haha), which has an impressive array of celebrity mug shots. Oh, The Liberty Hotel, you’re so clever.

Image: The Liberty Hotel

2. Jail Backpackers – Mount Gambier, Australia

Image: avlxyz/Flickr

Some former jails go through massive renovations led by world renowned architects and top-notch designers. Others kick the prisoners out and open their doors to patrons the next day. The Jail Backpackers (website under construction) falls into the second category. Don’t expect witty jailhouse names or tongue and cheek references here…don’t even expect a private bathroom. The cells haven’t changed much since the prisoners left — except now the doors lock from the inside and the former chapel is used as a common room. The hostel is owned by Gary and Patricia Adams who seem to be an, “if it ‘aint broken, don’t fix it” kind of couple.

Image: avlxyz/Flickr

Image: avlxyz/Flickr

Image: avlxyz/Flickr

If you’re dying to see more, take the $3.30 “grand tour” of the property where a “tour guide” takes patrons around to the solitary confinement cells, a mural painted by the inmates and the old kitchen, and much more:

Volleyball and tennis were played here on the weekends and at the end of each day. In the early days this was not a high security gaol, and sometimes the inmates would climb over the walls, run down to the pub, buy some grog, climb back inside and hide it to drink later. Did you know that tennis nets make good ladders?

An extra enticement for playing tennis was having friends on the outside who would throw in a doped tennis ball. (An ordinary tennis ball with a slit was stuffed with some drugs – mainly marijuana – in a plastic bag. The recipient would swallow these drugs, plastic and all, and retrieve it later in the privacy of his cell, as it passed through him! This ruse didn’t always go as planned, however, and at least one prisoner was very ill because the plastic bag had not been well enough seal; an overdose resulted!

Oh those prisoners, what tricksters!!

3. Karosta Prison – Liepaja, Latvia

Image: Yves B./Flickr

There are prison hotels, and there are Prison Hotels. Karosta Prison is the later. Although it’s no longer in government use, guests pay money to stay in this former prison that treats patrons like they are, well, in prison. Yep. People pay for the chance to experience the joys of being abused as if they had been incarcerated in a Latvian KGB prison circa 1986.

Image: Liepaja Turisms/Flickr

Whether you think Karosta Prison is the cutting edge of reality tourism or can’t really understand the draw of being barked at in Latvian with a Stalin poster hanging in the background, one thing’s for sure… Karosta is NOT playing around. After “check in” with a large, surly guard, “prisoners” are stripped of all their luggage (save a toothbrush), and are berated with rules and then forced to squat, hands behind their head, in a dark, musty corridor. After more verbal abuse and a medical exam, patrons are photographed and given a “prison passport”. Screw any part of this initial process up and you’ll find yourself in solitary confinement for a whole 5 minutes.

Image: Liepaja Turisms/Flickr

Image: Liepaja Turisms/Flickr

After the warm welcome, guests are then fed a delicious meal of stale rye bread, a pickle, and sweet Russian tea before being forced to haul a heavy pallet into a communal cell and make their bed according to army codes. Then it’s 4 minutes of free time, usually involving a trip to the three dirty holes in the ground used as a toilet and using a dripping faucet for teeth brushing. After that, lights out and enforced silence, unless of course the staff decides to walk their guests up for a little manual labor. At 7:30 the next morning guests are promptly kicked out, without breakfast. Sounds fun!!

Image: Karostascieturns/Flickr

Although it’s hard to believe, the prison has garnered a small cult following from Latvian bachelor parties and corporate “team-building”. At least they only charge £7 a night, making it a pretty good deal as far as youth hostels go. If you only want to endure a few hours of this torture, Karosta offers two hour “experiences” in addition to their “extreme package” which involves the overnight stay.

4. Malmaison Oxford – Oxford, UK

Image: Rose Robinson/Flickr

Built in 1870, this Victorian prison seems like it was made to be a hip hotel. With three tiers of cells in the central galley illuminated by massive windows, the original Oxford Prison was considered to be a real 5 star place, as for a prisons go, when it was originally built. But after years of overcrowding, the building was put on up for sale.

The only caveat? The integrity of the original structure had to be completely maintained. Although it was a tall order, we think they did a pretty amazing job modernizing the building with only a few changes (like putting in safety glass, expanding the cells, and upgrading to top of the line en-suite amenities).

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Image: KiwiCollection

Image: KiwiCollection

They even kept the solitary confinement cells intact, but turned them into a high-brow restaurant, Brasserie.

5. Four Seasons Hotel at Sultanahmet – Istanbul, Turkey

Image: Onur COSKUN/Flickr

Image: Mohamed Haykal/Flickr

A former Ottoman prison isn’t exactly where you would expect a Four Seasons Hotel, but the ultra-luxe chain decided it was the perfect spot for their Turkish boutique. Built in 1918, Sultanahmet Jail was the first prison constructed in Istanbul and it housed intellectual dissidents, artists and writers who opposed Ottoman rule– yikes! After serving for years as a political jail, it was then turned into a military prison, and was ultimately abandoned in 1969.

The Four Seasons took over in 1992 and spent four years renovating the heck out of this building with a pretty unpleasant past. All “Turkish Delight” jokes aside, they left a few adorable “prison-y” touches — like a large marble pillar with the etchings of a former inmate — but for the most part completely redid the interior of the building in a lush, Four Seasons-worthy design.

Image: rougetete/Flickr

Need another reason to visit this hotel aside from the stunning interior, history-laden exterior, and superb service? Located in the center of Istanbul’s old city, you could pretty much throw a baseball from Sultanahmet and hit either the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace or The Hippodrome (Eds note: although we suggest just walking to all three).

6. Hostel Celica, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Image: Anne Gilmour/Flickr

Taken from “11 cool Hotel Bars Around the World“,

It can only be assumed the original occupants of this Slovenian prison weren’t exactly treated with the warmest hospitality. Initially the barracks housed prisoners of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and later on the Yugoslavian Federal Army. After Slovenia claimed its independence in 1991, the future of the building was uncertain: the city wanted to tear it down but artists, who recognized the prison’s cultural history, squatted in the building and ultimately saved it from destruction. After 10 years and huge amounts of work, Hostel Celica opened its doors to travelers in 2003 with the downright heartwarming vision of welcoming strangers into a building that used to confine prisoners, but is now full of art and culture.

Image: Monty Elm/wlnho/Flickr

Image: trepancrafts/Flickr

While Hostel Celica was being renovated, more then 80 local and international artists were invited to decorate the prison-cells-turned-hostel-rooms, and graffiti artists, muralists, and sculptors have covered most of the exterior with urban art. Even though many of the surfaces have been covered, a few remnants of the original architecture remain, including cell bars on the doors to the all the hostel rooms and two former solitary confinement cells.

Image: charliebrummitt/Flickr

Slovenia is still more or less on the backpacker’s trail, so check out Hostel Celica’s Bar and Restaurant if you’re feeling lonesome and want to meet some fellow travelers. It’s located in an atrium in the center of the hostel, is open from 7 am to midnight weekly, and serves local and imported beer, wine, absinthe, and an array of mixed cocktail and shooters. The bar also has a weekly schedule of cute-as-a-button cultural events that happen at night including dancing workshops, jam sessions, and folk music performances.

7. Langholmen Hotel – Stockholm, Sweden

Leave it to the Swedes to turn what was once a Alcatraz twin, into a lush, family-friendly haven. The island of Langholmen is located in central Stockholm and was once rocky and barren, originally home to a penal colony for women in the 1700s, it was then turned into the largest prison in Sweden in the 1800’s. But instead of its inmates lazing around, petting pigeons like they did on Alcatraz, those industrious Swedish prisoners were instead put to work collecting mud and soil to make their rocky prison-island just a tad more homey. With such fertile soil covering the whole island, seeds from merchant vessels easily took root on Langholmen, creating a floral paradise after a few years.

Flash forward to 1975 and the prisoners were moved to off the island, and as a result families began pouring in to take advantage of the gorgeous coastline and beautiful gardens. Naturally, the prison was put to good use to, becoming the Langholmen. Classy, sweet, and design conscious, the Langholmen pretty much encapsulates Swedish living. It even has a few “hostel” room (multiple occupancy) and a tiny prison museum. So cute.

All Images: Langholmen

8. Hosteling International Ottawa Jail Hostel – Ottawa, Canada

Image: Capital Neighborhoods

Built in 1862, the original Carleton County Gaol (gaol means prison in kooky Canadian) was built in a massive, Georgian style that didn’t leave too much doubt about what it was. The beastly building was constructed without heating or toilets in the cells, and as you can imagine prisoners got a little sick of it after a while. By 1972 accusations of prisoner mistreatment really started to fly (it took that long?) and a new gaol was built.

Image: nelisa/hi-hostels

Instead of tearing down the monstrous old building, the Canadian Youth Hostel Association offered to buy it from the state, turning it into the HI-Ottawa Jail Hostel. Most of the prison cells have been left pretty much intact, and instead of sleeping one inmate they now accommodate four bunk beds. This isn’t exactly a step up, but at least you get to leave in the morning.

Need a little more breathing room? The warden’s quarters is available for rent. And make sure not to miss The Carleton County Gaol museum, located on the 8th floor of the old jail– the entire floor was left totally un-renovated to give hostel-staying patrons a taste of the real jailhouse experience.

9. Hotel Katajanokka – Helsinki, Finland

Image: Best Western Premier

After Sweden lost control over Finland and the Russians took over in 1809, they decided the lovely hamlet of Helsinki should be made the capital. And good ‘ol Tsar Nicholas knew the first thing a capital city needs is a prison! And so he commissioned the building of a modern jail in 1832. The original jail structure was completed in 1837 and even came equipped with its own church (which survives to this day and is the second oldest church in Helsinki– wow!). Three more wings were added onto the prison in subsequent years, and it was only in 2002 that it was finally put out of commission due to overcrowding.

Image: Best Western Premier

Image: Best Western/rennygleeson/Flickr

Today the prison is a… Best Western? Although it might seem a tad anti-climactic, the mondo-hotel chain has done a nice job balancing the kitschy and the historical. They merged cells to create larger, more welcoming spaces while maintaining the original jail-house internal structure. The appropriate (but not particularly cleverly named) Restaurant Jailbird is open all day, and there is even a “Prison Break” tour/scavenger hunt offered to guests.

In need of a good laugh? Download the Prison Break PDF pamphlet. Those Finns really know the value of a good costume.

10. Courthouse Hotel Kimpinski – London, England

Although starlets seem to get away with murder in the legal system these days, the bad-ass rock and roll dudes of the ’60s and ’70s weren’t quite so lucky. Where were Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Johnny Rotten and Keith Richards held while awaiting their trials? That would be the small jail below the Great Marlborough Street Magistrate’s Court. Clearly it was THE place to be for the naughty-boy types, many of whom were in trouble for marijuana possession… those rebels!

Image: Billboard

Although still a hip place to be but now without the prison bars, the old court house is a Hotel Kimpinski. Opting out of naming everything inside the hotel after a jail (good work), the old courthouse waiting room is now The Carnaby steak house and the courthouse itself is Silk, an Asian-fusion restaurant.

All Images: Courthouse Hotel

11. Bonus! Sainte-Anne Prison – Avignon, France

Image: Gridskipper

Although it’s not slated for opening until 2013, the 36 million Euros being poured into Sainte-Anne Prison should be enough to spruce it up just a bit. Located in Avignon, or the Palace of Popes, the aforementioned religious men set up camp in Avignon the 14th and 15th centuries and the city remains one of the holiest in France. The project is being undertaken by Marriott who even enlisted Michel Macary — famed architect of the pyramid at the Lourve and the Stade de France, — to help redesign the 13th century prison that was once a medieval insane asylum.

Located next to the papal palace, the prison was for sale as part of France’s new unused-government-owned-real-estate-garage-sale program that was kicked off in the beginning of 2010.