Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Crimes have played a big role in many famous movies and TV shows.

  • And of course, when there's a crime, there's also going to be punishment, and this usually means someone is going to prison.

  • When filmmakers need to shoot a prison scene, instead of recreating one from scratch in a studio, they can now film everything at the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility in New York, which has been converted into a fully functional production facility.

  • We got an inside look at how they turned what was once a prison into a go-to set for movie and TV production.

  • Hey guys, we are here at the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility on Staten Island.

  • This is where shows and movies like "Orange Is the New Black," "Daredevil," and "Ocean's 8" film their prison scenes.

  • Let's go inside and take a look.

  • But first, a little history.

  • The former men's prison opened in 1976 and could hold 931 prisoners.

  • Arthur Kill is the strip of water between Staten Island and New Jersey, which is how it got its name.

  • Governor Andrew Cuomo closed the prison in 2011, after which Broadway Stages purchased the property, leaving much of it intact.

  • One of the most famous areas to shoot is the front of the visitors' entrance with its iconic guard tower.

  • All along the watchtower.

  • Where you can get a good view of the grounds.

  • Just overwatching the prison.

  • Whoa, what are you doing over there?

  • Hold on!

  • This is where Sandra Bullock walks out in the beginning of "Ocean's 8".

  • And where we see the inmates leaving at the end of season six of "Orange Is the New Black."

  • All right, so we're standing here in the visitors' area of the prison.

  • This is where you come in, you get signed in, you get checked, get processed through, and then they would lead you through to meet up with your prisoner.

  • All right, here you go, here's my stuff.

  • Let's go.

  • Let's go make a movie.

  • Surrounding the facility is the same barbed-wire fencing from the prison to make it look authentic.

  • Also authentic, the giant keys that are still used to lock up various parts of the building.

  • This is what you want.

  • This is the key to the SHU.

  • These things are heavy-duty.

  • Next on the tour was the visitation room, where many crime dramas are typically set.

  • Arthur Kill has an area where you can meet at a table or behind a thick pane of glass.

  • To quote the great George Bluth, "I may have committed minor treason."

  • When we visited, we noticed several prop vending machines left around the room.

  • So like, as you can tell, this was a prop because everything is turned backwards 'cause they can't show the logos.

  • That being said, it looks like there's a big raid on the snacks in whatever scene they were filming here 'cause it is slim pickings.

  • But the pickings were even slimmer in the kitchen.

  • "Orange Is the New Black" filmed season seven at Arthur Kill, and they left behind plenty of fake prop food.

  • They say prison food is really bad, but I bet prop prison food is even worse 'cause it's not real.

  • Foam taters.

  • Connecting much of the prison is an area called Broadway.

  • It's this big, imposing hallway where sets are built, they're moved from one wing to another, and when this was a prison, this was the main stretch that connected it all together.

  • What was once the prison gym has now been converted into a huge soundstage, which we couldn't film because Hulu's "Wu-Tang: An American Saga" was in production inside.

  • There's also a chapel, classrooms, and a greenhouse.

  • While on tour, we noticed a really heavy-duty-looking iron door, which turned out to be a total fake.

  • Let me outta here!

  • Easy.

  • But this door and area of the prison might look familiar since it was part of a huge escape scene in Netflix's "Daredevil," which, of course, we had to try and reenact.

  • Code 33, code 33.

  • Key sound, key sound.

  • A "Daredevil" fight scene was also filmed in the prison's medical center.

  • We didn't get to see the general-population cells, but for "Orange Is the New Black," much of those scenes are filmed at their set at Astoria Kaufman Studios in Queens.

  • The infamous SHU scene, however, was filmed at the prison.

  • Facing my fears, going to the SHU.

  • Each cell was outfitted with beds, a small sink, and a toilet.

  • I could see why this is ideal to make a show or a movie because you are really immersing yourself in that environment.

  • While many TV shows and movies come here for the prison aesthetic, the grounds are also used for other types of productions as well.

  • The space behind us, this big, open parking lot, was used to look like Afghanistan on CBS's "The Code."

  • Where's my corpsman?

  • Cooper's dead, sir.

  • He bled out on the way back.

  • XStat on Adler's leg and call in for a dust-off now!

  • And the swimming pool has been converted into a different type of soundstage, one which can be used to film underwater scenes.

  • Filming at a place like Arthur Kill instead of a studio can make a show or film seem all the more real without breaking the bank.

  • Just don't forget the keys when you're putting your actors behind bars.

  • I would like a piece of cake, but preferably if the cake had a key baked into it or maybe some kind of way they can get me out of here for the purpose of the scene I'm in.

  • Thank you.

Crimes have played a big role in many famous movies and TV shows.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it