Trivia

Alan Alda on his autobiography "Never Have Your Dog Stuffed - and Other Things I've Learned" claims that this movie was shot in real prison with real prisoners as extras. During the filming of the movie, its director Tom Gries made jokes with prisoners that they should take Alan Alda as their hostage because that is the only way they can escape from prison. On the last day of shooting, two prisoners approached Alda and put an improvised knife on his throat telling him that he is their hostage. Luckily prison guard arrived shortly after and carefully negotiated with prisoners to let Alan Alda go. They let him loose telling him that they were just joking. Alda also states that no prisoner was punished for the incident.

Even though "The Glass House" is a TV-movie, the uncut released version features some brief male nudity, an "F-word," and the beginning of a gang-rape.

In an dark, ironic moment: Vic Morrow's character tells the young new prisoner that he can get just about anything in prison, except for a woman... and a helicopter. A decade later Morrow would be killed by a helicopter on the set of The Twilight Zone: The Movie.