Best movies like Doing Hard Time

Experienced New York Police Detective John Harris is sent to London to help a local task force investigate a series of gangster killings organized by a new player in town, an American.With the help of a young teen wronged by gangsters, Harris navigates London's seedy, drug-fueled underworld in order to take down its new criminal empire.

A Los Angeles taxi driver helps a distraught woman on the run from gangsters after they murder her husband and young son.

The true life story of the rise to power of Glasgow gangster Paul Ferris.

A drug kingpin's return home touches off a turf war.

New Jersey Drive is a 1995 film about black youths in Newark, New Jersey, the unofficial "car theft capital of the world". Their favorite pastime is that of everybody in their neighborhood: stealing cars and joyriding. The trouble starts when they steal a police car and the cops launch a violent offensive that involves beating and even shooting suspects.

In 1971, a warden at Attica Penitentiary is caught up in a hostage crisis when inmates take over the prison to demand better living conditions.

His name: infamous. His reputation: ruthless. But when James "Animal"Allen is locked up in a maximum security prison, he meets a revolutionary who changes his life. Now a reformed man, James is released only to find that his own son has assumed a life of crime and violence. Can a father haunted by his past redeem his family from the very streets he created, or will he be forced to make the ultimate sacrifice?

A young man slides back into a life of crime after reuniting with a shady acquaintance from his past.

Three juvenile delinquents arrive at a correctional center and are put under the care of an experienced guard.

A black police officer discovers a cell of white supremacist vigilantes within his department.

A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.

Vusi Madlazi returns to the South African village he left as a young boy to bury his father. He meets up with his brother Ernest, who tells him their other brother Stephen couldn't be contacted. Vusi goes to Johannesburg to find him, but at first can only find his neighbor/girlfriend, Karin, a stripper. Vusi proceeds to learn how conditions have changed since the end of apartheid, not always for the better for black men.

Ray Trueblood, member of a street gang, is framed by an enemy of a rival gang, Billy "Spider" Masters. Ray is accused of killing a cop and he has to escape leaving behind his little brother, Donny. Ten years later Ray returns to his neighborhood to take his brother with him, but things are worse than he could expect: his brother, now 18 years old, hates him and is a member of Billy Masters' gang. Furthermore, Billy Masters is looking for revenge and... the police is still after Ray for the murder of the police officer.

In 1950s Harlem a vicious Italian gangster (Frank deKova) tries to muscle in on a black racketeer's (Paul Harris) numbers game.

"Breaking Point" is a dramatic tale of corruption and self-realization, in which one man has to overcome a deep-seated conspiracy and his own lingering past in order to gain the redemption he desires.

Goldie returns from five years at the state pen and winds up king of the pimping game. Trouble comes in the form of two corrupt white cops and a crime lord who wants him to return to the small time.

The heroes in The Black Godfather are members of an African-American criminal organization. Like Brando in The Godfather, they're not averse to robbery and murder, but they do draw the line at narcotics. When the Mafia infiltrates the 'hood with dangerous drugs, the Black Godfather (Rod Perry) orders his minions to put an end to this perfidy.

During a 10-year sentence for murdering the leader of a rival South Central Los Angeles gang, Bobby Johnson finds religion and rehabilitation with the help of Muslim inmate Ali. Upon his release, Bobby returns home to find that his young son, Jimmie, has joined the Deuces, his old crew. Tensions rise as Bobby struggles to convince Jimmie to leave the gang that was his only family during the painful years his absent father spent behind bars.

Drug lord Dwayne Gittens rules Cincinnati with an iron fist. No wonder he's known as "God" on the streets. Determined to break Gittens' stranglehold on the city is undercover cop Jeffrey Cole. But as Cole takes on an assumed identity to penetrate Gittens' criminal empire, he makes a disturbing discovery -- he kind of likes being a gangster.

Frustrated with being broke, Beans decides that the only way to grasp the American Dream is to take it.

A child of a middle class home with solid moral values is lured into a world of crime and corruption.

Onyx rapper Sticky Fingaz directs and stars in this hip-hop musical about a gangster who gets caught up in a bloody war between two feuding crime families while struggling to leave the streets behind. When Black's family raids one of Stick's drug houses and kills two of his men, Stick is forced to choose between leaving it all behind or seeking revenge and feeding the cycle of violence.

When a brutal carjacking yields a videocamera, a teenage boy decides to document his life and the lives of his fellow gangbangers.

In Los Angeles, two rival gang leaders are also trying to be music producers. When DJ's equipment shorts out and Lonzo is cut out of the action by a record producer, the two join forces, which also requires a tentative peace between gangs. With backing from Gator, a smooth New Orleans drug king, DJ and Lonzo start dealing, organizing their gangs into pushers. Just as their finances are looking up, one of Gator's team pulls a double cross and two of DJ and Lonzo's gang bangers start a shooting war. Can the erstwhile music producers salvage anything of their bond or their plans?

A group of ghetto kids try to find out who killed a popular police officer.

A DJ and ex-con is forced to work with the police in an undercover drug sting targeting his boss.

A raw urban drama about two friends raised on the dangerous streets of Kingston, Jamaica. Biggs and Wayne take on the "Shotta" way of life to survive. As young boys, they begin a life of crime, eventually moving to the US where they begin a ruthless climb from the bottom. They remain bound to each other by their shottas loyalty as they aggressively take control of the Jamaican underworld.

Daryl gets out of jail after 5 years. His mother has died, his girlfriend is married, and he can't find a job. His new girlfriend Vanessa, whom he meets when a gunman opens fire on them, gets him a job as a car driver. Hitmen are still after them, and Vanessa tells Daryl that this is her former lover Ahmad who wants revenge.

The film is a semi-biographical story based on the experiences of former prison guard Ronnie Thompson who spent seven years working in some of the UK's most dangerous prisons. Based on Thompson's book of the same name, the project stars James D'Arcy (Master & Commander), Noel Clarke (Kidulthood), Frank Harper (The Football Factory), Jamie Foreman (Layer Cake), Andrew Shim (This Is England) and Kate Magowan (Stardust). The story revolves around former soldier Sam Norwood who takes a job as a prison officer when he returns from Iraq and becomes exposed to the underworld of prison culture - including corrupt guards and drug trafficking.

U.S. Marshall Duke Donovan is imprisoned, accused of being an accomplice in a bank robbery. After discovering that his partner is planning to kill his wife, he must escape prison in time to save his wife and clear his name.

A narcotics detective, played by Fred Williamson, lets nothing stand in the way of his bringing down a major drug dealer. After a bust gone awry, he's accused of stealing a lost briefcase filled with money and both the mob and the police are looking for him. A ruthless hit man, played by Bruce Glover, will stop at nothing to get what his boss wants; the money!

Witnessing a drug deal involving local gang members and cops, an Australian police officer feels he can no longer be just an observer. He joins forces with a local teacher who just happens to be a karate expert and together they try to take back the streets.

Dante and his girlfrend Micky run a very profitable drug operation in a seaside town, aided and abetted by a host of teens who sell the smack at discos around town, as well as by Lucas, a corrupt cop who's on the take. Their downfall comes when they suspect one of the boys, Pep, of ripping them off, and his accidental death causes disloyalty among the teens, who suspect Dante offed them. All of this is perfect for the return of Gabriel, a one-time partner of Dante, who has just been released from jail, and has an almost angelic demeanor and the certainty that he can fix everyone's lives.

After decades of terror, two deadly street gangs reach a delicate truce and young MJ (Silkk the Shocker) sees a way out of the hood once and for all. Only Corrupt (Ice-T) stands in MJ's way, resulting into a violent and brutal roller coaster ride of action!

Jimmie Rainwood was minding his own business when two corrupt police officers (getting an address wrong) burst into his house, expecting to find a major drug dealer. Rainwood is shot, and the officers frame him as a drug dealer. Rainwood is convicted of drug dealing, based on the perjured evidence of a police informant. Thrown into a seedy jail, fighting to prove his innocence is diffucult when he has to deal with the realities of prison life, where everyone claims they were framed.

A hard boiled tale of bloody revenge that interweaves the stories of nine criminals. The story takes place in one day, on the eve of an all out syndicate war. Through a twisted series of events, the interweaving narratives are put on an ultra-violent collision course that will determine, once and for all, who owns the streets.

Mike Sullivan spends his nights kidnapping runaways so his boss, Lamar, can turn them into prostitutes. He is a crack addict and a thief and he is in love with a resentful prostitute, Rhonda, who doesn't love him back. Although he has aspirations of escaping this world, it isn't until he is nearly killed by corrupt cops for stealing money from his boss that he decides to redeem himself. In an attempt to save his own soul, he tries to get Rhonda out of the business, and is forced to battle Lamar and his henchmen, as well as Rhonda's unwillingness to change. As punishment for betraying Lamar, Mike is forced into a series of misdeeds, and in a shocking ending, must commit unredeemable acts as he tries to save Rhonda and himself.

A cop must stop the killings of rap stars. But, he gets in too deep after his partner is killed.

After a violent bank robbery, the trio of hoods make their way across East L.A. carrying a blood-soaked bag of money. When word gets out, they must fend off gangs and crooked cops alike as they strive to keep the loot and stay alive.

New Orleans has the No. 1 per capita murder rating in the nation. A decade earlier, the city was dubbed the "Murder Capital of the Country". Drugs and violence controlled the streets, taking a toll on the city's law enforcement, neighborhoods, and its people. "Death Toll" illustrates this dark chapter in the city's history.

A former kingpin of the streets, Miles “Cain” Skinner is doing life in prison. He is feared and respected among the inmates. When Cain learns that his sentence will be shortened only by brain cancer, his urgency to change his ways goes into overdrive.

A young California surfer has to grow up in a hurry when he is thrown into a Peruvian political prison in 1980.

Snap, Crackle, and Pop are top dogs in the Eastsidaz gang in Long Beach. Pop, also known as Killa, is the alpha dog. He has Crackle and Snap set up a big drug deal that's going to put him on easy street. But Crackle and Snap have their own agenda: they kill the suppliers, take a suitcase of money, and set up Killa to take the fall. Stuck in the state pen in Chino, Killa has his gang figure out what really happened while he hatches an escape plan. Meanwhile, Crackle has kidnaped Killa's sweetie, Booboo, and the government has confiscated his assets. Can Killa Pop escape Chino, rescue Booboo, exact revenge, find the loot, and elude the police? Written by

Johnny Sun is a Mexican American with a white mother and Mexican dad. He witnesses his parents murder and gets his revenge years later, leading to a hard life as a gangster in drugs and smuggling. He tries to keep his borther from the life and finds himself fending for his own life.

Detective Ian 'Shotgun' Jones hunts a sadistic misogynistic maniac.

A young man coming home after serving time in the penitentiary finds his city in control by local thugs, stops at nothing to gain sole control of a city he feels is rightfully his.

Trane is a decorated war hero just shipped home to the States from Afghanistan after the brutal murder of his wife and child back in Rockaway, Queens. Upon his return, Trane encounters his old friend Dave, who describes the new forces of crime and prostitution that have moved into their neighborhood and caused the destruction of his family.

A black soldier comes home to Harlem after a tour in Vietnam and discovers that his wife had become a heroin addict and died of an overdose. Infuriated, he gathers three of his ex-GI buddies and they lay out plans to fight the drug dealers.

A NYPD detective attempts to avenge the death of her father, but unwittingly becomes involved with one of his killers.

Bad City is the tangled story of three men's lives: Manning, a dirty, disillusioned cop; Julian, king of drugs, thugs and prostitution; and Frank, a ruthless politician who destroys everything in the way of his ambition.