Beyond Scared Straight

Six at-risk teens experience Lieber Correctional Facility in Ridgeville, SC, to get a first-hand look and feel at life on the inside. The inmate-run "Operation Behind Bars" program locks up the teens in tiny cells, gives them a taste prison food and offers a glimpse into "Lock-Up," a prison within the prison for the worst of the inmate population. Shaming the teens with a stern tone, the program coordinator, civilian Nell Westbury, adds a unique voice to the inmate's onslaught.

Four at-risk teens are brought to one of the nation's most infamous prisons to participate in the S.Q.U.I.R.E.S. program? the oldest inmate-run youth diversion program in the nation. The program, short for San Quentin's Utilization of Inmate Resources, Experiences & Studies, shows these kids the realities of prison life. They see the state's only male Death Row, are paraded past the heckles of the prisoners in the overcrowded cells and discuss how the constant fear of violence and physical harm is around every corner.

Maryland inmates give a group of five at-risk teens a taste of prison when they are forced to eat "Lock-up Loaf," a brick of baked mush served to unruly prisoners. The teens include, Shane, 17, a redneck who is surprised he hasn't killed anyone, Garrett, 13, who HAS been kicked out of eight schools already, Brandy, 16, who skips school to smoke pot, her brother Shawn, 15, who protects Brandy at any cost and Richard, 18, a towering jock who drinks, blacks out and awakens bloodied from brawling.

Five at-risk girls are subjected to a terrifying simulation of the degrading process of entering a female prison. Four friends, busted together for shoplifting, have a unique opportunity to jointly discover the horror of prison life. The prison tour reaches its greatest emotional impact when teens open up to the inmates, causing one girl to reveal a tragic secret.

In Charlotte, NC, a group of at-risk teens, including a wannabe gangster and a drug dealer, is taken to Mecklenburg County Jail. Jose, the most defiant teen, goes head-to-head with terrifying inmates and one of the toughest female jail deputies Beyond Scared Straight has come across, Sgt.Garrett. When Jose finally refuses to follow an order, Sgt. Garrett makes it her mission to break Jose down.

Oakland County, Michigan is a stone's throw from Detroit's infamous 8-Mile and the streets here are just as tough--but the deputies and inmates who run Oakland County Jail's "Turn-Around" program are even tougher. They are physical, vocal and in-your-face. They may have met their match in Brandon, a drug-dealing teen who proves himself with his fists and claims that he was "raised by the streets." Brandon fights back from the moment the intervention tour begins. When an inmate physically challenges Brandon, things reach a fever pitch, and for the first time on Beyond Scared Straight, deputies go into action and a teen is thrown out of the program.