Critically acclaimed Prison movies that are oscar winners or nominees

Actors : Taye Diggs, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger, Richard Gere,
Directors : Rob Marshall,

Murderesses Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.

Actors : Thomas Kretschmann, Emilia Fox, Adrien Brody, Frank Finlay,
Directors : Roman Polanski,

A Polish Jewish musician struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II.

Actors : Peter Brocco, Michael Berryman, Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher,
Directors : Milos Forman,

A criminal pleads insanity after getting into trouble again and once in the mental institution rebels against the oppressive nurse and rallies up the scared patients.

Actors : Peter O'Toole, John Lone, Joan Chen, Ruocheng Ying,
Directors : Bernardo Bertolucci,

The story of the final Emperor of China.

Actors : Halle Berry, Taylor Simpson, Gabrielle Witcher, Billy Bob Thornton,
Directors : Marc Forster,

After a family tragedy, a racist prison guard reexamines his attitudes while falling in love with the African American wife of the last prisoner he executed.

Actors : Domhnall Gleeson, Miyavi, Jack O'Connell, Garrett Hedlund,
Directors : Angelina Jolie,

After a near-fatal plane crash in WWII, Olympian Louis Zamperini spends a harrowing 47 days in a raft with two fellow crewmen before he's caught by the Japanese navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.

Actors : Bartosz Bielenia, Aleksandra Konieczna, Eliza Rycembel, Tomasz Zietek,
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 : Kate Winslet, Geoffrey Rush, Joaquin Phoenix, Michael Caine,
Directors : Philip Kaufman,

In a Napoleonic era insane asylum, an inmate, the irrepressible Marquis De Sade, fights a battle of wills against a tyrannically prudish doctor.

Actors : Ed Harris, Dragos Bucur, Colin Farrell, Jim Sturgess,
Directors : Peter Weir,

Siberian gulag escapees travel 4,000 miles by foot to freedom in India.

Actors : Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins, Bob Gunton, William Sadler,
Directors : Frank Darabont,

Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.

Actors : J.D. Cannon, Strother Martin, Paul Newman, George Kennedy,
Directors : Stuart Rosenberg,

A laid back Southern man is sentenced to two years in a rural prison, but refuses to conform.

Actors : David Morse, Michael Clarke Duncan, Bonnie Hunt, Tom Hanks,
Directors : Frank Darabont,

The lives of guards on Death Row are affected by one of their charges: a black man accused of child murder and rape, yet who has a mysterious gift.

Actors : Clifton James, Otis Young, Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid,
Directors : Hal Ashby,

Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison but decide to show him one last good time along the way.

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 : Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Jennifer Lien,
Directors : Tony Kaye,

A former neo-nazi skinhead tries to prevent his younger brother from going down the same wrong path that he did.

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 : Obba Babatundé, Martin Lawrence, Eddie Murphy, Nick Cassavetes,
Directors : Ted Demme,

The story of wrongfully convicted men (Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence) who discover the value of life after serving 65 years in prison.

Actors : John Malkovich, John Cusack, Nicolas Cage, Colm Meaney,
Directors : Simon West,

Newly paroled ex-con and former U.S. Ranger Cameron Poe finds himself trapped in a prisoner transport plane when the passengers seize control.

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 : Kevin Bacon, Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, Jason Patric,
Directors : Barry Levinson,

After a prank goes disastrously wrong, a group of boys are sent to a detention center where they are brutalized; over 10 years later, they get their chance for revenge.