9. Bang Kwang Prison, Thailand

Known as the “Bangkok Hilton”, Bang Kwang is understaffed, overcrowded, and filled with inmates who struggle with insanity as they spend the first months of their sentences chained in leg irons. 


The Thai culture doesn't believe in coddling prisoners, and, in the words of Director of Prison Khun Nattee, “Thai prisons are tough…you don't want to be in Bang Kwang.”  

Poor medical care is standard at this prison, with sick inmates shackled to their beds as they wait for medicines they probably will never get.  

If you find yourself on Death Row at Bangkwang, you will have leg irons welded on until your execution, and you will be given only two hours notice before dying by lethal injection.
 

8. Rikers Island Prison, New York 

Stabbings, beatings and brutal treatment from prison guards characterize this American prison. 


Filled primarily with offenders who are visible minorities, jailed on drug offenses, the prison is a hotbed of violence and aggression.  

In 2007, prisoner Charles Afflic was beaten senseless with a billy club by a prison official, who hit him repeatedly from behind: his injuries were so severe they necessitated brain surgery.  

6 inmates committed suicide, hanging themselves with bedsheets in their cells, during the first six months of 2003 alone.  

Rikers has a reputation for its cruel treatment of mentally ill prisoners, who often turn to suicide in lieu of treatment and understanding.


7. ADX Florence Supermax Facility, Colorado

This prison was built in response to the violent attacks on guards and prison staff at other US prisons – it was meant to be the ultimate deterrent, a place where inmates were completely isolated from prison staff, and left to live in slow psychological torture as they spent 23 hours a day in barren cells. 


Inmates at ADX are the worst of the worst, often repeat offenders who have killed or injured other inmates, or even prison guards, during their time in other institutions.  

Described by inmates as a nightmare vision of punishment, “meant to inflict misery and pain”, this “clean version of hell” is also a violent place, despite all the steps taken to segregate and isolate the general population.  

In its 13 years of operation, two prisoners have been killed at ADX Florence.  

Another prisoner, named Lawrence Klaker, was shot and injured as he entered the Supermax prison for the first time: he later killed himself within prison walls.