This has to be the worst show I've ever seen. The main premise is innocuous: to try to keep kids from stealing and being in gangs by giving them a reality check. The way they ended up doing this was beyond offensive (which should be the real title of the show.) Instead of making the kids have heart to heart talks with prisoners about why they should change their behavior, they took them to the "alternative sexuality" ward and used gay and trans inmates as a boogeymen to scare kids out of going to prison. The guards often threatened the kids by telling them they would be raped (which is NEVER okay), and made derogatory comments about transgender inmates ("do you want to be in here with a man who wants to be a women?") I can't imagine how harmful this was to the teens in their program who happen to be gay, bi, and trans themselves (a percentage of them certainly are.) I was supposed to watch this show wanting the kids to turn their lives around and change their acts. Instead, I wanted to join the kids in punching out the oppressive prison guards and start a riot. If anyone needs to be taught a lesson, it is not the teens, it is the guards.
Review of Beyond Scared Straight
