Netflix's #1 Show, 'Unlocked: A Jail Experiment' Features An Out Of Control Concept
Daily Mail - Netflix fans have been left stunned by the streaming site's 'most unhinged show' yet.
The TV show Unlocked: A Jail Experiment, which debuted on the streaming platform on Wednesday, follows a social experiment taking place at the Pulaski County Detention Facility in Arkansas.
The six-week program sees detainees try out an open prison concept which revolves around the 'radical ideal' of having no locks and no officers.
I'm not going to give an episode by episode review of what goes down on this show. You're gonna have to watch the madness for yourself. But I recommend it highly. I'm only a couple episodes in and I'm fully invested. The entire premise is one of the more reckless things I've ever seen on television.
In short, the show takes place within a prison in Little Rock, Arkansas. It's a real prison, with real felons. Rapists, murderers, people who ripped the tags off hotel mattresses, all the worst offenders Arkansas has to offer. The Sheriff in charge of the prison is desperate for change. Turns out the guards they pay $3 per hour aren't necessarily capable of keeping a large group of dangerous felons in line. So the Sheriff implements something radical. He gets rid of the guards entirely. Fuck it. Let the inmates run the asylum. Literally. So for six weeks they do exactly that . And of course, on top of getting rid of the guards, the prison brought in a Netflix film crew equipped with 19 high-def cameras to catch all the action.
You got a cat named Tiny who prides himself on how many people he's stabbed. He's my favorite.
An old head named Randy who insists on trying to be in charge of everybody, and certainly appears to be on the fast track to getting his ass kicked. He's my least favorite.
A white dude named Miller who literally can't stop getting his ass kicked.
Someone who goes by Mayhem who speaks about himself in the 3rd person. I don't know what this prison thinks is gonna happen when you let a guy named Mayhem go unchecked, but I can't imagine it's going to be good.
Maybe the craziest part of this whole experiment where they're leaving a group of dangerous felons unsupervised for 24 hours a day, is that before the experiment started, these prisoners were on a 23-1 schedule. Meaning for 23 hours per day they were locked in a cell. They only had 1 hour of time in the common area. This show is taking a group of people who haven't had more than an hour of "freedom" per day for years, and letting them have at it.
But I guess it could work? I don't know much about the prison system in the United States, but I do know it's pretty much a disaster all around. I'll give the Sheriff credit for trying something new. Maybe these prisoners will successfully form their own little community where they're able to police each other and live in harmony. Maybe they'll turn the whole place into one of those Cartel run prisons where they form their own little society and build night clubs and zoo's within the prison walls
Or maybe they'll all just kill each other. At minimum, the Sheriff has created one hell of a show. I've always been fascinated by prisons. Ever since I was kid I had always wanted to be a fly on the wall in a prison somewhere. Something about being surrounded by that many people who have all done terrible things. That would get you adrenaline going. And this show is a pretty good way to experience that.
I will say, to these prisoners credit, in the first few episodes nothing crazy has happened since they removed the guards. Perhaps this will turn out to be a civilized prison. It honestly looks kinda fun up to this point. They're drinking toilet wine, having rap circles, smoking coffee grounds rolled up into paper towels. Just a bunch of guys being dudes. But I can't help but think that any episode now things are going to pop off in a major way.