Stacey Dooley travels to Iowa to investigate one of the most radical women’s prisons in America. The Correctional Institute for Women is a new 80-million-pound facility which houses more than 700 female offenders, from drunk drivers to violent murderers. For the last three years, the prison has been run by Sheryl Dahm, a warden with a difference. Rather than placing discipline and punishment at the heart of her regime, she tries to instil in the women a sense of purpose and self-esteem. She permits the women all kinds of freedom: therapy dogs, make-up and â€" if they behave â€" the chance to move freely around the prison.

Stacey gets to know one particular group - the lifers, who make up around ten per cent of the prison population.

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