I krigstid er det enhver officers ret og pligt at flygte, hvis han skulle blive fanget. Det tager Virgil Hilts og andre allierede officerer meget alvorligt, og da tyskerne placerer flugteksperterne i samme lejr, giver det dem mulighed for at planlægge en usædvanlig masseflugt.

Han blev kaldt Papillon, sommerfuglen. Og selvom han manglede sommerfuglens vinger, havde Henry Charriere et livsvigtigt redskab: viljen. En vilje så stærk, at det lykkedes ham at gøre det umulige - at flygte fra Djævleøen. Flugtfilmen over alle flugtfilm - baseret på Henry Charrieres selvbiografiske bestseller, med Steve McQueen og Dustin Hoffman i hovedrollerne.

Henri Charriéres beskyldes for at have slået en alfons ihjel. På trods af at Charríere fastholder, at han er uskyldigt dømt, deporteres han snart efter til en fjerntliggende ø, der fungerer som straffekoloni i Fransk Guinea. For Charriére - også kaldet Papillon - er der kun én ting, der holder modet oppe hos ham, og det er den tid, han bruger på at planlægge sin flugt væk fra øen.

Mød Englands voldeligste mand. Bedre kendt under øgenavnet Charles Bronson indlogerede den britiskfødte Michael Peterson sig første gang på Hotel Tremmely, da han i en alder af 19 blev anholdt for væbnet røveri. Drevet af et overdrevent ønske om at ville være kendt har han med sine talrige, serie-psykopatiske overgreb på både politi og fængselspersonale siden sikret sig en spektakulær forlængelse af opholdet. Af sine godt 34 år i fængsel er 30 af dem blevet afsonet i isolation, og han har samlet set været løsladt lidt under fire måneder.

Despite vocal objections from Warden Blakely, prison psychologist Diana Purlow journeys deep inside the mind of serial killer Jesse Mowat in a desperate attempt to reveal the source of his psychotic tendencies.

Den forbitrede straffefange Robert Stroud slår en fangevogter ihjel og bliver idømt livsvarigt isolationsfængsel. Han får dog lov til at holde kanariefugle, man da de bliver ramt af en alvorlig sygdom, udvikler Stroud et serum, der kan helbrede dem, og han bliver dermed en anerkendt forsker.

Army Captain Edward Hall returns to the US after two years in a prison camp in the Korean War. In the camp he was brainwashed and helped the Chinese convince the other prisoners that they were fighting an unjust war. When he comes back he is charged for collaboration with the enemy. Where does loyalty end in a prison camp, when the camp is a living hell?

Members of a teenage gang are sent to the State Reformatory, presided over by the callous Thompson. Soon Patsy Gargan, a former gangster appointed Deputy Commissioner, arrives and takes over the administration to run the place on radical principles. Thompson needs a quick way to discredit him.

A solitary dish washing robot living out his life in the back room of a restaurant is enlightened to the world that exists beyond his four walls, with the help of a small friend he breaks free of confinement to pursue his dream of exploration.

In 2011, Maine State Prison launched a pioneering reform program to scale back its use of solitary confinement. Bafta and Emmy-winning film-maker Dan Edge and his co-director Lauren Mucciolo were given unprecedented access to the solitary unit - and filmed there for more than three years. The result is an extraordinary and harrowing portrait of life in solitary - and a unique document of a radical and risky experiment to reform a prison. The US is the world leader in solitary confinement. More than 80,000 American prisoners live in isolation, some have been there for years, even decades. Solitary is proven to cause mental illness, it is expensive, and it is condemned by many as torture. And yet for decades, it has been one of the central planks of the American criminal justice system.

Red Onion-fængslet, der ligger i staten Virginia, er et af USA´s mest sikre fængsler. Det er bygget til, at den indsatte befinder sig i cellen 23 timer i døgnet. Her møder vi nogle af de indsatte, som hver dag er isolerede fra kontakt med andre mennesker. Igennem interviews afslører de voldsomme barndomme og kampen for at bevare fornuften under isolation.

For decades, the United States has been fixated on incarceration, building prisons and locking up more and more people. But at what cost, and has it really made a difference? FRONTLINE goes to the epicenter of the raging debate about incarceration in America, focusing on the controversial practice of solitary confinement and on new efforts to reduce the prison population, as officials are rethinking what to do with criminals.