Best Prison movies of 1980s

Actors : Burt Young, Lance Kinsey, Allen Garfield, Judy Landers,
Directors : Nat Christian,

A gangster's girlfriend is framed and sent to a minimum-security prison.

Actors : Nikolai Sotirov, Vania Tzvetkova, Ivan Ivanov, Valcho Kamarashev,
Directors : Nikola Rudarov,

This is a psychological whodunit. The action is tense and there are many ups and downs. Vas, a young militiaman, has to pose as a ex-prisoner and infiltrate an international gang of ...

Actors : Mammootty, Sumalatha, Urvashi, Babu Namboothiri,
Directors : Joshi,

Ravi Varma, who is sentenced to life in prison for murdering his wife, tells his story to his wife's sister, a news reporter, about the true story of what happened.

Actors : Kin Shriner, Karen Chase, Sandy Martin, Roberta Collins,
Directors : Bruce Logan,

A sexy stuntwoman gets herself thrown into prison to avenge the death of her sister.

Actors : Karen Kirishima, Bunta Sugawara, Takeshi Yamato, Toshiya Fujita,
Directors : Junji Sakamoto,

A directionless young man, recently released from prison, tries to make a new start in life as a boxer.

Actors : Karine Gambier, Brigitte Lahaie, Nadine Pascal, France Lomay,
Directors : Erwin C. Dietrich,

A bunch of delinquent women are shipped to an island prison run by the sadistic warden Carla. Forced into situations of sexual perversion and violence and torture, the prisoners band ...

Actors : Sergi Mateu, Assumpta Serna, Raul Solnado, Patrick Bauchau,
Directors : José Fonseca e Costa,

In Portugal, in the 60s, the corpse of a man appears on Dog's Beach. The corpse is identified as the major Dantas, a man wanted by authorities after his escape from a military prison where he was awaiting trial for insurrection.

Actors : James Wilder, Henry Thomas, Errol Slue, Stephen Shellen,
Directors : Graeme Campbell,

Fresly escaped from prison, Isaac is picked up by his brothers, and the entire brood embarks on a crime spree that claims the lives of six people.

Actors : Gary Waddell, Bryan Brown, Max Phipps, Dennis Miller,
Directors : Stephen Wallace,

Filmed in the Clare Valley, Gladstone and the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, this prison movie was inspired by the true life prison riot at Bathurst Jail in 1974 and its subsequent Royal Commission into New South Wales Prisons.

Actors : Pandiyan, Rajinikanth, Gautami, Prabhu,
Directors : S.P. Muthuraman,

On their release from prison, two criminals join forces to prove the innocence of a wrongfully convicted fellow prisoner and in the process, also learn the truth about their own missing parents.

Actors : Michael McCleery, Charity Staley, Robert Prichard, Gina Mastrogiacomo,
Directors : Richard W. Haines,

In 1939 a spaceship carrying four alien escaped prisoners crash-lands on Earth and the aliens take over the bodies of four locals. Fifty years later the aliens find out that an artist has ...

Actors : Chema Muñoz, Xabier Elorriaga, Mario Pardo, Ramón Balenziaga,
Directors : Imanol Uribe,

In the summer of 1977, a political prisoner, living in exile, recounts the circumstances of his escape to a journalist: in April 76, a group of ETA members planned to escape from prison, ...

Actors : Svetlana Gaytan, Vladimir Kosyrev, Kseniya Nazarova, Aleksandr Bureyev,
Directors : Sergei Bodrov,

Young Sasha is brought into a state-run children's home because his mother died early and his father spends most of his life in prison. The conditions are like in a penal institution. Sasha...

Actors : Harold Sakata, Bruce Le, Jang Lee Hwang, André Koob,

Reformed criminal and ace martial artist Bruce decides to go straight and settle down with his girlfriend after being released from prison. The gang he used to be part of kidnap the ...

Actors : Sally Yeh, Joyce H. Cheng, Brigitte Lin, Hui-Shan Yang,
Directors : Yen-Ping Chu,

A group of women with various criminal skills are thrown into prison during World War 2. They escape and proceed to head off to destroy a chemical lab in a well fortified valley.

Actors : Carey Zuris, Rick Gianasi, Natalie O'Connell, Teresa Farley,
Directors : Tim Kincaid,

Inmates at a women's prison run by a corrupt warden and her gang of sadistic guards plan a breakout.

Actors : Ketevan Kiknadze, Gia Burjanadze, Giorgi Khobua, Otar Megvinetukhutsesi,
Directors : Giga Lortkipanidze,

Zaza Nakashidze is imprisoned for a murder he never committed. While in jail he tries to prove his innocence and with other prisoners, real murderers and thieves, dreams of freedom.

Actors : Diogo Dória, Teresa Menezes, Mário Barroso, Francisco Brás,
Directors : Manoel de Oliveira,

The life of a young man, son of an English officer who lets himself become a prisoner of love resulting in fatalism and disgrace.

Actors : Pirkko Hämäläinen, Soli Labbart, Hannu Lauri, Tiina Björkman,
Directors : Mika Kaurismäki,

Anna Kelanen is an ex-model, who just has been released from prison. She thinks back on her life, when she was a rather successful model, and on the things that went wrong.

Actors : Christoph Eichhorn, Lydia Billiet, Badema, Sevimbike Elibay,
Directors : Ulrike Ottinger,

A group of cosmopolitan women passengers aboard the Trans-Siberian/Mongolian Railway are taken prisoner by Ulan Iga, a warrior princess.