From Oz to Lockup: Bringing Prison Life (Back) Home

Abstract

This paper examines HBO’s prison drama Oz. I connect the 1990s depictions of prison life in Oz to the more recent prevalence of prison shows like Lockup, currently shown weekly on MSNBC. While the two series belong to different genres (fictional drama vs. documentary/docudrama) they give us a window into the story lines about and perceptions of prisoners, crime, and security that American audiences found, and continue to find, believable and compelling.

Keywords

• Oz
• Lockup
• prison
• fiction
• docudrama