While some prisons are actually quite nice with televisions, work out rooms, ping pong tables, and hearty servings of food, there are numerous prisons (primarily in underdeveloped nations) that are very rightfully called “hell on Earth”. Of course, there are those of you who will say, the prisoners should have thought twice before committing a crime. Fair enough, but remember…most of the worst prisons in the world are not in democratic, fair trial countries. If you scroll down to number 1 we can guarantee you that a disproportionate number of people in that place are there for simply trying to put food on the table. Get ready because these are the 25 most brutal prisons in the world.

25. Stanley Prison, Hong Kong



One of the six maximum security facilities in Hong Kong built in 1937, it was a popular place of execution before the Hong Kong government lifted capital punishment in 1990. Between 1946 and 1966, about 122 criminals were executed in the gallows of the prison. It also became part of the Stanley Internment Camp during the Japanese occupation, as a place of torture and execution where 600 prisoners were killed. Refugees from China who tried to cross the border were also imprisoned there making its population grow to 3,000, well over its limits.

23. Montelupich Prison, Poland



 Montelupich Prison, Cracow, Germany — One of the worst Nazi prisons in Poland, it was used by the Gestapo all throughout World War II to house political prisoners, victims of the Gestapo street raids, deserters, and British and Soviet spies. From 1940 to 1944, an estimated 50,000 prisoners had passed through the prison walls where ’medieval torture’ was employed as the principal interrogation method. After WW II, it became a Soviet prison where Polish soldiers from the Home Army were murdered and tortured by the NKVD.

21.Vladimir Central Prison, Russia



 Vladimir Central Prison, Russia — Built in 1783, it became infamous for housing political prisoners during the Soviet Union era. Nowadays the overcrowded and disease-infested prison is known for the sadistic abuse that the inmates receive from the guards. Prisoners are forced out of their cells, ordered to put their hands on the wall and given beatings so severe that they have to be dragged back to their cells, while others result in deaths. As if this isn’t enough, they are also ordered to beat each other.