There are few place that inspire more reverence and torment thanprison . Just the thought of spending a dark in jail is enough to give most normal Americans a terror flak , or at least keep us on the straight and narrow . Yet the hit A&E show " 60 Days In " has had no job see unforced volunteers to spend 60 full day behind bars . What ’s wrong with these mass ?
The show , now it its third season , follows nine clandestine inmates as they navigate the waken incubus of life in jail . Unhinged cellmates , casual fighting , wretched living weather condition , cruddy nutrient — it ’s all too real . The current time of year was shot in the ill-famed Fulton County Jail in Atlanta , home to 2,500 inmates awaiting trial for serious crimes .
The regular inmates think they ’re being shoot for a documentary film and have no idea that some of the " fresh meat " being marched to their cells are really participants on a new variety of world TV show .
Who would voluntarily expend two calendar month in a position that few people would even deal to travel to ?
Calvin has his reason . The youthful don of three from Texas ( who did n’t want his last name used ) get a arcdegree in social oeuvre and put to work as a caseworker with Child Protective Services before becoming an eighth - grade teacher . He ’s catch how kinsperson are torn apart and lives for good damaged by prison . Still , there are shaver and adults in his community who see prison as a badge of honor .
" My whole life history has been in child welfare , working with adolescent and teenager , " Calvin say . " I just need to show the child that I instruct and mentor that if you make bad decisions or faulty option , this is a berth that you might finish up . "
In his prison clothes , tattoos and short - browse dreadlock , Calvin looks like just another inmate at Fulton County Jail . That fact is n’t lost on Calvin , who cites the nationwide disputation over raceway and police force as another motivation for signing up . He wants to show his students — and the land — that hoi polloi who look like him are n’t all " crowd bangers . "
For Calvin ’s 8th - grader , who are used to see their smile instructor in a dress shirt and bowtie every day , even the commercial for the show are take an effect .
" It ’s documented , " says Calvin of his two - month experience behind bars . " My pupil can see it with their own eyes . ' Whoa , that ’s my teacher ! You was in that environment ? ' Their eyes and ears are astray unfastened to me now . They ’re very receptive . "
" 60 Days In " executive manufacturer Jeff Grogan says that the show ’s Creator never set out to vagabond a game show like " Survivor . "
" There ’s a reason we call them ' participant ' and not dissenter , " says Grogan . " There ’s no prize at the death . There ’s no succeeder . We have to centre on mass with a genuine motivating for wanting to go to poky , which I know sounds a niggling half-baked . "
Those motivations fall into several main categories , Grogan explains . The first is natural law enforcement , people who are either active constabulary or corrections officers or who want to infix the field . "
" If you want to figure out in law enforcement , there are very few opportunities where you may actually expend time behind bars , " Grogan says . Also , if you have a criminal record with jail meter it ’s hard to get a job as a cop or corrections officer . The show is a way to aggrandise your sketch without sully your phonograph record .
Other participant are motivated by family member who have served or currently serve time behind bars . The only way for these common people to empathise the psychological toll on their lie with ones is to experience it for themselves . That ’s what motivated season two participant Monalisa Johnson , whose daughter is serving a 10 - year prison term , and who founded the interior funding organizationParents With Incarcerated Children .
Others portion out Calvin ’s motivation and backstory . They are social workers and educator who want to take the air a mile in their guest ' and students ' shoes . Still others are felonious judge crusader and activists who need to fall light on the " prison house state " and the disproportionate incarceration of young grim gentleman .
Grogan say that when drop each season of the show , the goal was to select eight participants who represent a diversity of viewpoints and motivations . There should be a equipoise of hardliners who think that if you " do the offence , you do the time " and people who believe prison house conviction are too tenacious and randomly pass on down . There also have to be a few " everyday Americans " with whom viewers can easily identify .
The formula seems to be working . Within weeks of the show ’s premiere in March of 2016 , " 60 Days In " became the most - watch out show on A&E and one of thehighest - betray reality showsof the twelvemonth among adult 25 - 54 . It does n’t ache that the show feature clips of prison brawls , vehement menace and occasional tantrum of female inmates playing strip poker .
" To start a conversation , you have to do something loud , " say executive producer Grogan . " I feel like this series was trashy enough to get multitude to pay care . While it ’s hopefully an entertaining show , it ’s also an significant show in start the word about criminal justice reform . "
you could see a promo clip for the show below .
