The Rise of Incarceration Reality TV
Understanding the Phenomenon
The #AIRS (Abolish Incarcerated Reality Shows) campaign is dedicated to ending all prison and jail reality TV programs that turn the lived experiences of incarcerated people into entertainment for profit. These shows exploit the hardships of confinement while generating revenue, normalizing a culture of surveillance and spectacle around imprisonment.
This document connects the historic efforts of organizers and social movements with today’s fight against carceral media exploitation. It traces how, decades ago, incarceration was first used as a form of public spectacle—and how that concept was revived and commercialized in the reality-TV era.
Present — The Ongoing Impact
Incarceration-based reality television continues to portray incarcerated individuals through lenses of hyper-violence and dehumanization. These programs:
Profit from surveillance footage of real people behind bars
Reinforce punitive attitudes in the public imagination
Deny incarcerated individuals any financial benefit from their participation
Normalize constant monitoring as a form of entertainment
The #AIRS campaign actively opposes this commodification of incarceration, calling for an end to all prison and jail reality shows that capitalize on human suffering.