User Reviews

This review is less about the show and more about the psychological effect of putting a camera in someone's face while they are incarcerated. The show itself is very interesting, but shouldn't we consider how it might ruin any chance of a normal future? We have seen the negative effects of "celebrity" on so many people who are not incarcerated. Surely some of the prisoners might be inclined to act up just for screen time. Surely they might be inclined to remain incarcerated so they can remain on the show. How is this really helping?

This series shows us that you can take control of your destiny and that it is never too late to become a good person. Moreover, this series is really interesting because it allows you to see the lives of teenage girls in a prison, which is rather original unlike other series where there are only adult men generally. This series is especially touching when they find their parents or when she leaves prison. I recommend it

These girls have had "a hard life..." whatever. They are disrespectful & have filthy mouths. They are where they belong until they face the real world and/or "real" prison just to put them in their place & show them just how "bad-ass" they are. I pray these girls see the light and change their direction, despite the upbringing & "parenting" they've been exposed to their whole lives. So so sad. The warden is a saint to me. NO WAY I could put up with these attitudes & mouths. God bless him!!

Excellent series, exciting and real. You empathize a lot with girls and it makes you see a sad reality. Is admirable how them strive to save forward and change their destiny. Very good!!

I get SO FRUSTRATED watching episodes and seeing how rotten these girls are behaving! Even the ones that are days away from leaving, the ones who are SUPPOSED to be "rehabilitated!" They are DISRESPECTFUL, swearing, antagonizing, and getting up in the face of each other, counselors, teachers, even GUARDS! They have NO respect for boundaries, and are CONSTANTLY getting into things that don't belong go them, even things that belong to staff! But the absolute KICKER is that the guards will stand there and tell them to do (or tell to not do) something 5-10 times, and the girls will stand there screaming cuss words & derogatory cuss names at the guards, and the guards just stand there repeating the same request in the same monotone voice, it's the textbook definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different response! These girls have NO structure, NO responsibility for their actions, NO discipline! There are FUNDAMENTAL reasons that the UNITED STATES PRISON SYSTEM was founded upon, and not the least was that any citizen able to be reformed and placed back into the public MUST BE reformed and not a threat to themselves or others. This system is FAILING these girls!!! Even at the exit interview, you don't have to read the room, the officer SAID that the girl has a hot temper and gets in fights a lot! But then she agreed go her release after I think only five months? Yeah, you gave the girl GREAT SKILLS to get by on the outside! The guy that's former USMC OOOHRAH! That they interview so often tried to say they only have a 17% recidivism rate I had to laugh so hard when I heard this! Just based on the first5 episodes alone, you can PLAINLY see that if he's getting 17%, it's only because he's cooking the books and not counting the girls that wind up in prison, or other Juvie Halls, or sadly, dead. These girls AREN'T being punished or getting their brains re-wired so they are able to avoid, and move-on from all of the things that were toxic for them when they go home, and are immersed back in the life, like being kicked out of a helicopter in nothing but your bikini as you're sightseeing icebergs! These girls are WAY over-indulged, they get SO MUCH more of EVERYTHING than people in prison that their sense of entitlement SICKENS me!!! All that money being spent in those personal tablets, the fancy gym & cardio equipment, the super long breaks with the TV and comfy chairs, Arts & Crafts equipment, etc. All that money coming out of OUR taxes, they're ungrateful for it, and if just the money for SOME if those extras could be sent to homeless outreach programs like the one my ex and I started, THAT could change and possibly SAVE lives! We are used to pinching pennies to make silver dollars, so we could make the impact a MUCH bigger one, AND the people WE take care of are so grateful, I've seen a homeless Vet cry over a hot cup of coffee! Hmmm a rotten girl who throws her $800 tablet in the ground until it's dead, OR a Vet crying over a $.25 cup of coffee (we also do soup, donated clothes, food, blankets, pillows, shoes, sack lunches, and we now own an older hotel that we fixed up, and put up as many homeless families as we can until they get back in their feet?) This Juvie Hall is nothing more than a 12 month indoor version of summer camp! As someone who has been training and in college to be a Profiler for the FBI, I find these conditions DEPLORABLE (and not in the Netflix "World's Toughest Prisons kind of way!) But, for the fact that these kids are SO spoiled, and in the end, the only one they're hurting is the future victims, and these girls!

Not as entertaining as jailbirds but with WAY MORE HEART. If every juvenile detention center was ran like this one, the world would be a better place. Seeing how the correction officers really want these girls to change, learn, and succeed in life is amazing. The stories are touching and need to be told. This is where the road to being a criminal begins for most, during the teenage years, and you see how these girls got on this path. It's sad but real and for me I felt compassion and sorry for most of the girls.

Throughout this series you will laugh, cry, feel frustrated, angry, and just question everything about the system that has placed these children there.

I have to agree with one of the other reviews that questioned the impact this may have on the girl's future, especially given seem to be embracing the celebrity status already, however I feel this documentary needed to be made. You never really hear about what happens in juvenile facilities, but this provides a great insight.

What struck me the most was the lives all of these girls led before they entered the system in this way. Mostly all of them interviewed had severe issues with their family life - sexual abuse, parents in prison, parents using and encouraging drug use etc. It makes you question whether this is really the best we have to offer the struggling kids of America? Is incarcerating them the only way to get through to them? I'm doubtful. But I was pleased to see how well they were being treated when it came to receiving support/ schooling.

The one thing the show neglected to mention is how their time in juvenile facilities will affect their future. I know obviously as an adult this affects every aspect of their lives - applying for food stamps, accommodation, jobs etc. But do these records ever get wiped? Do they have to declare it when they go for jobs? I know these answers could be found with a google, but it would have been nice to have a narrator to tease out some of these conclusions at the end of the series.

What I'd really love to see next is a 'three years on' type chat show style one-off episode where the girls, with the use of hindsight (if we're lucky), get to talk about what they thought of the facilities/ their treatment, and whether they believed there were other options better suited for them. That'd be really interesting.

Amazing show! Very touching, gets you emotionally invested. I loved this and binge watched it all at once because I was so interested and couldn't wait to watch the rest... <3

Girls Incarcerated looks at serious societal problems and hints at the complex systemic issues around an Indiana reform school. Unfortunately, it fails to interpret or critique these issues, missing opportunity after opportunity to delve into the psychological and environmental issues that landed these girls in the criminal justice system to begin with.

The series glosses over a few of the horror stories that led to the featured girls' problems, but it provides none of the context that would easily show how political and social apathy, the prison industrial complex, and anti-science policymaking have created this mess.

The filmmakers repeatedly fail to critique the unscientific "discipline" and teaching methods that seem to be employed, and they never challenge the (probably illegal) anti-LGBTQ+ religious indoctrination that's rammed down these kids' throats at a taxpayer-funded institution. There's nothing in the series that adequately educates viewers on the generational trauma, parental failures, or psychological issues that drive juvenile delinquency/crime, and there's no acknowledgement that many of the methods employed here are actually major contributors to recidivism.

In short, the series is voyeuristic and shallow, offering no vision for improving these institutions. Instead, viewers are treated to poverty porn that may appeal to people with empathy but no serious interest in the complex solutions needed to fix our broken criminal justice system. It will also appeal to the lowest common denominator of conservative rage-watchers - the sort who will focus on all the wrong things (swearing, acting out) while failing to comprehend the systemic problems that created the bad behavior in the first place (hint: it's not just bad parenting). Worst of all, the show lacks the psychological and intellectual insight to show its viewers a better way. It offers a reality TV approach that never takes a meaningful position on anything, and the show is lifeless and vapid as a result. Once again, these girls deserved much better treatment than they got.

I'm going to agree with many reviewers that it was very hard to wrap my head around the style of discipline at this facility. The girls have all had very difficult lives and therefore must be treated differently and as individuals. I am sure we are not allowed access to many individual and group canceling sessions, so it's hard to say the facility is doing a bad job, but the girls do seem to get away with a lot of disrespect to the facilitators. The rules seem very lacks and non uniformed depending on the guard and or counselor, but they all do seem concerned for the girls well being. It is very engrossing to watch and you find yourself wanting to reach into the TV and hug the girls and say "you can do this, life dealt you a bad hand, but you got this." I do hope that Netflix' finds a way to not make celebrities out of these girls like TLC has done with the 90 day franchise, as I fear it would compound unresolved issues that are better dealt with in counseling and not on social media. In that regard I'm torn between wanting the show to succeed or not.

These poor girls. I see other reviews going off about the girls language and disrespect. Well, what do you expect when you put 20(?) traumatized girls in the same room day in and day out with little-to-no privacy, guards who know very little about deescalating conflict, lack of addressing their very serious and gruesome trauma, an outdated silly form of "discipline" and point systems, to name a few? A fourteen year old girl with anger management issues and you expect her to behave like a normal kid? And you lock her up in this institution? I have no words for how sick this is. This is not only trauma and poverty social porn, but also yet another insight on everything wrong about the American prison system. An interesting watch if you look beyond the drama and foul language.

This show is insane! I can not believe these young girls are acting this way! It is like wild animals in a cage! Watching this will make you want to reach in the TV and give some of the girls a strong long hug and let them know they are LOVED and worth more then how they are behaving! I do not understand why they are not punished for how they speak! Their choice of words is just dreadful and should be void. I can not wrap my head around parents who have these children and do not teach them right from wrong! If you can not be a GREAT role model for your child then place them in a loving home.

While prison shows are always interesting, shows with kids under 18 always make me laugh. Something about teens and their lack of maturity pretending they are super bad*ss. Series can be sad of course because of how young they are. But its also great if you need something to laugh at. Every adult knows these teens would not make it in a adult prison. And facts are most teens who move onto to adult prisons, end up crying for their parents right away.

Fact is they don't realize a teen prison is easy because, you know, its full of teens. About as scary as a sloth coming to attack you. They are mixed in with other teens who all compete to be "thug" like and it shows how sad they are that they think it actually impresses anyone.

In adulthood and in adulty prison, no one really is scared of your teenage thug wanna be attitude. To them, your just easy pickings as fresh meat to control. Sadly you can tell most of these girls think they are that 1% of teens that can make it in a adult prison.

That's the only part I feel bad about. Not realizing teen prison is very different from adult prison. Most of them running their mouths get away with it in teen prison. In adult prison you just get thrown to the ground, get masked and thrown in solitary. And if you run that mouth again adults, you will likely end up shanked or at the least, beat up.

I'd love to see a future series to see if them make it to adult prison so we can get some extra laughs as they endlessly cry and get put into place by not only the officers, but by other inmates who are actually hardcore thugs you never want to mess with.

---edit--- After starting season 2, I have to say I have some mixed views now. Some of the girls do try to change as a person for the better. Which is great to see. However some still just fall back into their ways once back in the streets. In one case with Cassie, her mom easily gets enraged. Cassie makes excuses for her mom, but she fails to see her mom doesn't care that much if she hasn't gotten help to control her rage. Because that will still end up bringing back Cassies anger issues also. She needs to move out when she's 18 to a calmer environment

Admiteddly many of these kids come from tough streets or run down cities. Which tends to lead to troublesome kids.

This "show" should come with a warning for those looking for scandal or clickbate. It's not made to exploit children or teenagers for being "bad", despite the ill-named title. On the contrary, this show sticks with you. And if you have any compassion or hope for people who have experienced real difficulty in their lives, this show won't leave your mind, even after several years.

I've seen other reviews, complaining how the employees say the same thing several times while receiving little to no response from those under their care. This is part of what makes it such a good environment for the so-called inmates. Compassion is something many of them have never seen. Selfless parenting is something many have lacked. This facility (and the second in season 2) represents an environment which is meant not to force, but to diffuse. Not to coerce, but to draw slowly. Will everyone respond? No. Will everyone who responds succeed in the real world? No. But that is not the point. At the end of the day, these girls / women are individuals, who are fully capable of making their own choices. The question is, does this environment help or hinder them?; encourage or discourage them?; set them up for success or failure? IMHO, it does everything a facility of this type should do. And that's more than people can say for many "jail" type facilities.

And the end of the day, for anyone who doesn't understand the show, I question your own life experience more than the series itself. It's not something to be entertained by. It's lives to be fascinated and drawn in by. This is one of the most important and vulnerable looks at young people and the results of their lives, for better or worse. I hope everyone who takes the time to watch this series will also take the time to receive what it has to offer.

IMO this show is exactly what's wrong with youth today! They have no discipline and no respect for the staff and it seems as though we are just warehousing these kids until we release them back into the same environment they got them from. I watched season one and it seemed that most of the young ladies were heading in the right direction but this season the girls just seem worse. In fact they seem to be bragging about their crimes and no remorse for the victims at all. Their language is horrible, the outburst and behaviors (these time out rooms are a joke). The female staff at LaPorte did a great job checking their attitudes, the men seemed to have no idea what to do with these young ladies and are easily manipulated by these girls it seems very sad. I think they need a more strict program.

It's Keeping up with the Kardashians except ghetto version in jail. With overweight girls who look like they haven't showered or brushed their teeth in weeks. If you like reality shows with endless amounts of pointless bickering, you might enjoy it. Who threw who's ipad on the floor and what someone did in return to get back at them and being told for the millionth time "it's not right to do that." Then girls working on a computer, taking notes, being put in "time out" (yes they actually call it that), arguing with staff for entertainment, occasionally getting out and talking to their parents about how they won't do bad things anymore (hint: they do). Pretty much sums up the show.

So no young adult living in Indiana was taught to speak proper English?? Seriously??? WOW....

Watched the first 5 minutes of the first episode and it is nothing but children thinking they are hard because of their bad parents. I'm sure these kids will get their money when the get out.