Lockup: County Jails

This is one of the grittiest, realest coverages of prison life. You can only get grittier with Lockup: Raw. Not that I was thumbing my nose at prison before, but this documentary simply cemented the fact for me that I do not want to go to prison.

Damn..... Like really? 'Do you smoke marijuana today?' You must have a chemical imbalance, lets fill you up with prescription drugs like a proper American! Marijuana is horrible, so lets get you addicted to stuff that's worse...

Prime example how how bad our justice system is.... Thanks for airing this. Showing how STUPID our government penal system is

I'm going through these episodes while I'm on the treadmill every day. I must say, you'd think it would get monotonous but it doesn't. It's essentially the same format but they still make each prison interesting.

It generally follows three or four convicts in a prison or a jail and for the most part, it's the same everywhere. Some prisons appear to be way tougher and the convicts complain how they are treated in every episode but the show is very fair and you see it from both sides - the prisoner and the guard.

I will say after watching a bunch of these, I do not pass judgment on anyone who went to prison now. They did their time (or are doing their time). I may not like their crime but they are suffering their punishment now.

I also makes you appreciate freedom so much. Anyone can make a mistake and end up in prison. You don't have to be a bad guy. You can just do something wrong in a split second and your life is turned upside down and there you are, sitting in a cell wishing you could go back in time and change things.

Well you're back in time now, be cool and enjoy the show. It's a good documentation of the US prison/jail system and needs to be told.

I love this show I have been watching it for years. You guys are awesome and very brave to go one on one with some of the tuffest inmates

One of the timeless classics of American true crime television, particularly the early seasons when the show was more unscripted and the inmates more candid, before they realized that their interviews would be broadcast to a nationwide audience and inevitably come back to haunt them. I put Lockup alongside the original Cold Case Files, American Justice and The First 48 as the best long-running crime series of all time, so it's a real shame that NBC has seemingly tried to obliterate the show's archives from existence, only making a small selection of revised (i.e. Butchered) versions available on their streaming platform. I suspect that this is due to the raw and unfiltered nature of the early episodes not doing enough to portray the inmates as victims, which goes against the prevailing views promoted by msNBC and their corporate & political allies.