The host of the “toughest prison in the world” criticizes “unfair and frustrating” rival series for spreading “myths” about life behind bars

Raphael Rowe is gearing up for his seventh series, Inside the World’s Toughest Prisons – traveling around the globe from the Solomon Islands to Bali and the Czech Republic to provide an in-depth look at some of the world’s most hostile and dangerous prison environments .

He’s been attacked, insulted and watched prisoners murdered by other prisoners – but that won’t stop him from making another series.

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Why? Because he has worked tirelessly to change the narrative about prisoners – something he believes could be quickly undone by reality shows such as Channel 4’s new format HMP.

He said: “It’s frustrating because the producers of these shows ask people to do certain things or behave in a certain way for television purposes and when it comes to reporting on prisons there’s no point in that , except for entertainment.”

“I’ll probably kick myself because I might be on a show like this one day for a reason, but I don’t understand how producers can expect people to believe that when you use a disused prison and pretend as if it were a real prison.” that it may be somewhere close to reality.

“The reality is that when the cell is locked and you have no way out, the psychological damage and the physical damage cannot be replicated in a celebrity-produced show. It is unfair to victims and criminals and the authorities who manage these people to undo any handiwork.” is done with the prison narrative.

“I very rarely watch prison reality shows so I haven’t seen Ross Kemp, Stacey Dooley or Katie Piper – it frustrates me to no end that there are so many people trying to do the right thing about crime “, but some of these shows perpetuate the myth that I think is so unfair. But of course everyone has a different perspective.”

Raph has been traveling the world since 2016 to document these harsh prisons – and despite being unjustly imprisoned for twelve years himself, he never gets used to seeing and smelling these environments.

He added: “I’m shocked every time I go to a new prison and I’m scared all the time – I’d be an idiot not to do it. So why am I doing this? “I just want to document these environments and it works,” so I put myself in these sometimes life-threatening situations.

“When I smell the piss, shit and sweat of the men in a prison for the tenth time, it won’t be the same as the last time, and that always surprises me.

“People always say that I deal with all of this with so much calm, but I have actually been in situations like this where someone wanted to take my life and I was able to survive. I’m not a superhuman, I just know what prisoners are like.

“It’s not always an immediate threat, it’s about the danger that is brewing. Prisons can be a serious breeding ground for danger if problems are not addressed from within. Their problems are festering and their predatory behavior is getting worse.”

Despite the dangers prisoners can pose to the public, Raph insists we have nothing to fear here in the UK – even after the escape (and capture) of terror suspect Daniel Khalife.

He concludes: “There has been a front-page outbreak in a UK prison and there is rightly concern. But we have a prison population of over 80,000 – that doesn’t mean we have to lock down every other prisoner behind their door because one escaped.

“Our prisons don’t even point guns at prisoners or have a license to kill like they do elsewhere. That’s simply not necessary. Our prisons are as safe as they can be, and I’ve been in many around the world.”

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