Best Prison movies that are award winners or nominees

Actors : J.E. Freeman, Willem Dafoe, Laura Dern, Nicolas Cage,
Directors : David Lynch,

Young lovers Sailor and Lula run from the variety of weirdos that Lula's mom has hired to kill Sailor.

Actors : Bartosz Bielenia, Tomasz Zietek, Eliza Rycembel, Aleksandra Konieczna,
Directors : Jan Komasa,

Daniel experiences a spiritual transformation in a detention center. Although his criminal record prevents him from applying to the seminary, he has no intention of giving up his dream and decides to minister a small-town parish.

Actors : Sam Bottoms, Ryan Simpkins, Michelle Hurst, Maggie Gyllenhaal,
Directors : Laurie Collyer,

Sherry tries to integrate again into society and become a good mother.

Actors : Angela Lansbury, Laurence Harvey, Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh,
Directors : John Frankenheimer,

A former prisoner of war is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy.

Actors : Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr., Philip Seymour Hoffman, Allie Mickelson,
Directors : Bennett Miller,

In 1959, Truman Capote learns of the murder of a Kansas family and decides to write a book about the case. While researching for his novel In Cold Blood, Capote forms a relationship with one of the killers, Perry Smith, who is on death row.

Actors : Sonia Braga, Raul Julia, José Lewgoy, William Hurt,
Directors : Hector Babenco,

A gay man and a political prisoner are together in a prison. The gay man narrates the stories of two fake movies and his own life.

Actors : Peter Fonda, Patricia Richardson, Christine Dunford, Tom Wood,
Directors : Victor Nunez,

A reclusive beekeeper slowly pulls his dysfunctional family back together, but not without having to fight his son's previous dastardly cohorts.

Actors : Robert Prosky, Susan Sarandon, Raymond J. Barry, Sean Penn,
Directors : Tim Robbins,

A nun, while comforting a convicted killer on death row, empathizes with both the killer and his victim's families.

Actors : Nick Nolte, Juliette Lewis, Jessica Lange, Robert De Niro,
Directors : Martin Scorsese,

A convicted rapist, released from prison after serving a fourteen-year sentence, stalks the family of the lawyer who originally defended him.

Actors : John Spencer, Ed Harris, Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage,
Directors : Michael Bay,

A mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco.

Actors : Morgan Freeman, Robert Redford, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Alexander,
Directors : Stuart Rosenberg,

The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.

Actors : Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Garner,
Directors : John Sturges,

Allied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.

Actors : Al Pacino, John Leguizamo, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller,
Directors : Brian De Palma,

A Puerto Rican former convict, just released from prison, pledges to stay away from drugs and violence despite the pressure around him and lead on to a better life outside of N.Y.C.

Actors : David Morse, Anjelica Huston, Robin Wright, Jack Nicholson,
Directors : Sean Penn,

Freddy Gale is a seedy jeweller who has sworn to kill the drunk driver who killed his little girl.

Actors : Charles Bronson, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes,
Directors : Robert Aldrich,

During World War II, a rebellious U.S. Army Major is assigned a dozen convicted murderers to train and lead them into a mass assassination mission of German officers.

Actors : Steven Berkoff, Richard Crenna, Sylvester Stallone, Charles Napier,
Directors : George P. Cosmatos,

John Rambo is released from prison by the government for a top-secret covert mission to the last place on Earth he'd want to return - the jungles of Vietnam.

Actors : Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory, Don Gordon,
Directors : Franklin J. Schaffner,

A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.

Actors : Brad Davis, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins, Paolo Bonacelli,
Directors : Alan Parker,

Billy Hayes, an American college student, is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison.

Actors : John Belushi, Mary Steenburgen, Christopher Lloyd, Jack Nicholson,
Directors : Jack Nicholson,

Due to the lack of men after the Civil War, a small western town allows a bachelorette with ulterior motives to save a horse-thief from the gallows by marrying him. They must deal with his old gang, the sheriff, the bank - and each other.

Actors : William Finley, Gerrit Graham, Jessica Harper, Paul Williams,
Directors : Brian De Palma,

A disfigured composer sells his soul for the woman he loves so that she will perform his music. However, an evil record tycoon betrays him and steals his music to open his rock palace, The Paradise.