Season 3 · Episode 2

Behind Bars: The World's Toughest Prisons: Colony 8, Zhytomyr, Ukraine

Colony Eight – one of the toughest and most notorious prisons in Ukraine. It is said that no one has ever managed to escape from here! Over eight hundred prisoners are behind bars in Colony 8 under maximum security. Until twenty years ago, the guards even carried out death sentences at this prison. Not any more – the concept is now a different one. Plenty of “freedom” on the one hand, draconian punishment and military drill on the other. Combined with permanent supervision: Around seventy cameras in the buildings ensure that anything moving gets noticed. One section of the prison is particularly notorious – the wing for the one hundred and sixty lifers: If you end up in this wing, you have absolutely nothing to lose. Because in Ukraine, life imprisonment means: literally being behind bars until you die. Access to this wing is specially secured. To gain entry, the guards must go through a multi-level security system of mechanical and electronic locks. Escape: impossible.