It is hardly surprising that for most of the last century, the commercial success of prison film has grown in line with incarceration rates. The popularity of movies set in prisons is indisputable, and no one would be surprised to find the “classics” of the genre in any “Best Prisons Film” list of the kind so beloved of television production companies and men’s lifestyle/culture magazines—perhaps featuring stalwarts from the past such as The Birdman of Alcatraz, Midnight Express, Scum, The Green Mile and, inevitably, The Shawshank Redemption which, nearly three decades after its original release in 1994, still tops many viewers’ polls of their favourite films of all time. Most prison films deal with universal human themes that we all can identify with, including life, death, love, loss and survival, which partially explains their popularity. But their longevity is likely due to the fact that they deal with a hidden element of society that fascinates and intrigues, a world that is unknown and unknowable to most ordinary viewers.