Shadowing Practice: Comparing Prisons Around The World! - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Prisons around the world are extremely different,
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Prisons around the world are extremely different,
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so let me tell you about some of the craziest ones.
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Starting with Bestoy Prison, which makes prison seem like a vacation.
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Bestoy sits on a small island just 50 miles from Norway's capital city,
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Oslo, which means the prison is only accessible by boat.
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Inmates here spend their days fishing,
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playing tennis, riding horses, and sunbathing on the beach.
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I'm not joking.
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This is a real prison.
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Inmates live in wooden cabins with their own bedrooms.
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They wear their own clothes they cook their own food.
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There's a gym, a movie,
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a library, and a weekly schedule of concerts and events.
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At a glance, you would genuinely think you're looking at a summer camp.
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Interestingly though, some of the inmates here are violent offenders.
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People have committed serious crimes.
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You're in prison for murder.
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Yeah.
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You killed somebody.
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Yeah.
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But this isn't the only type of prison in Norway,
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which we'll get to more on that later.
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So how do these prisoners end up here?
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Well, typically, if they are violent offenders,
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they'll serve part of their sentence in a prison that's a bit more prison-like.
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But after inmates prove that they can behave and reintegrate themselves into the free world,
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they can be transferred to Bastogne to finish out their sentence.
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However, the Norwegian government pays over $125,000 a year per inmate,
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compared to the U.S., which spends about $25,000 per year.
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That's over five times the cost.
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This is because the Norwegian government believes that the more life inside prison resembles life outside of it,
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the less likely an inmate is to re-offend when they get out.
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If you treat an inmate like an animal, he'd be an animal.
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If you treat an inmate with respect, he'll respect you back.
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And here's the part that's hard to argue with.
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It's actually working.
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Norway has one of the lowest re-offending rates in the world.
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Only 20% of inmates are back behind bars within two years of release.
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Compare that to the United States,
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where over 50% of prisoners return within three years
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so who's really winning here the inmates are even in charge of operating the ferry service to bring people to
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and from the island without any attempts at escape the prison is
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so relaxed
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that most of the guards actually leave the island overnight inmates
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are trusted to take care of themselves a prisoner at bestoy was once asked why nobody escapes to
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which they said you are free but you're not free if an inmate were to get caught trying to escape
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they would immediately be sent back to a prison much harsher than Bastogne.
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So the question this raises is simple.
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Here in the U.S., are we locking people up to punish them or to actually fix the problem?
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Because Norway seems to have figured something out that the rest of the world hasn't.
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Now that you've heard about one of the nicest prisons,
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let's switch gears and talk about Patak Island in Russia.
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This prison is often called the Alcatraz of Russia due to being on an island in a freezing lake.
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This is one of the harshest prisons in the entire world.
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Inmates are sent here only after committing some of the most violent and heinous crimes imaginable.
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That's because in 1997, this prison was exclusively dedicated to only housing inmates who are serving life sentences.
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For most inmates, they'll never walk out and they spend the rest of their lives there.
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The guards commute to work by driving over the single bridge connecting the prison to the mainland.
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Sounds like something out of a horror movie.
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As you can imagine, escaping from this prison seems impossible and so far has proven to be exactly that.
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Nobody has ever successfully escaped from Patak Island,
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and it doesn't look like anyone will anytime soon.
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One notable inmate who is currently behind bars at Patak Island,
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Alexander Biklov, Russian serial killer and cannibal who claimed to eat the hearts and livers of his victims.
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Now imagine him being your cellmate.
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Since the prison is in a remote part of Russia and visitation is strictly limited.
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Most inmates never talk to anyone outside of the prison walls,
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and are forgotten by the rest of their families to spend the rest of their days in this cold, relentless prison.
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The prison psychologist documented that after three to four years,
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inmates' personalities begin to visibly deteriorate.
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After 25 years, she said psychological destruction is essentially guaranteed.
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You can only imagine what goes on behind those walls every single day,
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where every prisoner knows that they will never step foot in the free world ever again.
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Now we've heard about a luxury prison in Norway and one of the harshest prisons in Russia.
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Let's see what the most secure prison in the US looks like.
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ADX Florence has been nicknamed the Alcatraz of the Rockies because of its location in Colorado.
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And it's the only federal supermax in the United States.
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And a supermax means that the people inside are so dangerous that they can't even be in a normal prison.
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So they are watched very closely and kept away in remote locations in case they get out.
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This prison has had multiple people that were on the FBI's most wanted list.
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Some names include El Chapo,
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who ran one of the biggest crime rings in the world.
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Robert Hansen, who was an FBI agent who was secretly working for Russia.
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Richard Reed, who's known as the shoe bomber and the reason we have to remove our shoes when going through TSA.
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I think you get it.
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You don't wanna be around these people,
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but let me tell you how they're treated now.
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The inmates here are confined in seven foot by 12 foot concrete cells for 22 to 23 hours a day.
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Even their beds, desks, and stools are all concrete and impossible to move,
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so they can't be used as weapons.
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Each cell has one four-inch window
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that is designed to make it harder for inmates to learn the layout of their prison
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or even where their cell is located,
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and this makes it harder to escape.
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It's the concrete bed, and this is the window with the red concrete bricks behind it.
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The prison is surrounded by 12 gun towers,
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motion sensors everywhere, attack dogs,
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and on top of all of that,
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razor wire, just in case you make it far enough.
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There's even wires strung across the top to make sure helicopters can't land on top,
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since they've been used to escape at other prisons.
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Hopefully, you never end up here.
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Next, we have San Pedro Prison in Bolivia,
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which is a self-governed inmate city.
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There's roughly 3,000 inmates that are running the prison on the inside,
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and the guards only stay on the outside of the walls.
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Inmates buy, sell, and rent their cells with different options,
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like this is a luxury apartment complex.
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They have cramped multi-person rooms,
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but they even have luxury cells with hot tubs and city views of the La Posta neighborhood.
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There's even 200 children that live here with their incarcerated parents,
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and some of them even go to school in the prison and play in the courtyards.
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How does someone even become a children's teacher inside of a prison?
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Until 2009, this place was even a tourist attraction,
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and they would give people tours for $20 to $57 as a bribe.
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And sometimes they would even spend the night.
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And there's reports saying
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that they ran up to 50 tours daily until someone posted it on YouTube
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and the guards were forced to crack down on it.
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At one point, Coke products were exclusively sold inside the prison and local bottling companies supplied them with Coca-Cola tables,
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chairs, and umbrellas.
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They even have their own soccer matches and betting ring
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that generates up to $20,000 a year with star players being bought and traded between cell blocks like an actual league.
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There was a book called Marching Powder by Rusty Young that made the prison famous.
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Maybe the prisoners should have read Oops,
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That's Illegal, and they wouldn't be in there.
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Get it in the link in the description.
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Now, this prison in Thailand is like none of the other prisons we've talked about so far.
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It's called Bong Kwong Central Prison,
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and it was originally built to hold 3,500 inmates.
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But now there's 6,000 to 8,000 inmates,
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and a lot of them are on death row.
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How many women are in this cell?
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200. 200 women in here?
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Yes.
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And until 2013, every inmate that came in had to wear iron leg shackles for three months.
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And death row inmates had their shackles welded on for years,
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and they could only be removed by using a wheel cutter.
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And these shackles weighed 33 pounds,
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15 kilograms for my non-American viewers.
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The solitary confinement cells in this prison were 5 foot by 7 foot windowless cells,
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which means there was barely enough room to even lay down
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and prisoners were kept there for months
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and they would go to extreme lengths just to escape for
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a little bit with one inmate smearing toothpaste all over his body to cause blisters just
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so he could go to the hospital
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and escape solitary confinement for some reason this prison was a tourist attraction for years
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and visitors could request to visit a prisoner and bring them food
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and cigarettes what is it with people wanting to visit these prisons
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and turn it into a vacation hopefully no one wants to go to this next prison.
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You've probably heard of Guantanamo Bay,
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but do you know what actually makes it special besides it constantly being mentioned in the news?
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The prison is located in Cuba,
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but is controlled and operated by the United States and has been open since 2002,
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and has only held a total of 780 people from 48 different countries.
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And as of January 2025,
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there are only 15 detainees there.
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The detention camp is where the US military holds some of the biggest threats to the United States,
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so they can charge them,
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and then send them to the maximum security prisons.
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But not everyone makes it out.
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Three of those 15 have been cleared for release,
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but they've been there for so long that they have nowhere to go.
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So they are classified as forever prisoners,
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and they are held without being charged or any plan to try them in court.
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Many of the detainees have been reportedly tortured at CIA black sites before they get transferred to the detention camp.
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Because it sits on a U.S.
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Navy base in Cuba, Guantanamo was a legal gray area.
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But courts have recognized some constitutional protections for the detainees.
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In January 2025,
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President Trump signed an executive order to expand the camp's separate
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migrant operations center to be able to hold up to 30,000 immigration detainees.
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This will double our capacity immediately.
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It's a tough place to get out of.
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Which would be a brand new use for the facility
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and a big change for a legal black hole that multiple administrations have tried to shut down.
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The Guantanamo, we'd like it to be empty.
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President, I will close Guantanamo.
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Did you know that there's a prison in France that's specifically built to hold celebrities?
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And it's even holding the former French president.
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It's called La Sainte prison.
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And in October 2025, for the first time,
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a French ex-president was sent to the prison to do time.
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And he brought earplugs, sweaters,
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a biography of Jesus, and a copy of the Count of Monte Cristo.
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There's a block of cells that are considered the VIP wing,
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where the cells are 10.4 by 10.4 feet with a private bathroom,
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landline phone, bed, and a small desk.
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Inmates can even rent a fridge for 7 euros
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and 50 cents a month and a TV for 14 euros and 15 cents a month.
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This is just sounding like a Hilton hotel at this point.
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The former president is being kept in solitary because the guards believe
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that inmates would target him and he's also accompanied by a personal officer any time he leaves his cell.
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According to reports, France's prisons are the third most overcrowded in the EU.
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And despite this prison's recent renovations,
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it still runs at double its rate capacity.
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So while other inmates pile into three per room,
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the VIPs basically get an apartment to themselves.
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Do you think it's fair that this former president gets special treatment?
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This prison in the Philippines became popular for a very weird reason and you might have even seen it.
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The Cebu Provincial Detention Center went viral on YouTube because in 2007,
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a security advisor uploaded a video of 1,500 inmates performing Michael
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Jackson's thriller in their jumpsuits as part of an exercise rehabilitation program.
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I said, why don't I convert that march into a dance number?
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I thought of dancing after that.
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Hey, maybe they were onto something with how popular TikTok dances have become.
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This video has gotten over 58 million views and was one of the most viral videos in 2007.
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They've also done performances of YMCA,
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Grease Lightning, and some Bruno Mars songs.
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It even inspired a Netflix documentary in 2019 called Happy Jail.
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So I guess if someone has to go to jail but is also into TikTok,
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that's an option.
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Most people are aware of North Korea and how they are completely disconnected from the world with super strict laws and policies.
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But let's talk about their prison,
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which is called Camp 14.
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This isn't really a prison,
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and more so slave labor,
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where unfortunately children are born as inmates and never even know what freedom is.
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Reports estimate that there are 15,000 to 43,000 people in the coal mines,
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factories, and farms at this camp.
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And satellite images from 2021 show that it's expanding.
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North Korea has a three generation rule where the regime imprisons not only the person who committed the crime,
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which in North Korea could be almost anything if they feel like it,
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but also their children and even their grandchildren.
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Most people say that most of the inmates were born inside and don't even know why or what their family did.
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The UN commissions found that crimes against humanity were taking place here,
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including extermination, enslavement, and torture.
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People make funny videos about traveling to North Korea.
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But remember, if you're there,
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you need to follow their rules because they make it enforce them and no one can stop them.
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Luckily, since 2017, the US State Department issued a travel ban that prohibits American citizens from using US passports to travel to,
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in, or through North Korea due to these risks.
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In Spain, there's a prison designed specifically so entire families are able to serve prison sentences together.
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It's called Aron Weth Prison and is located 25 miles south of Madrid and has 36 family cells.
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There are walls painted with Mickey Mouse,
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Donald Duck, and other Disney characters.
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I wonder how Disney feels about this.
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Cells include a double bed,
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a crib full of toys,
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a small bathroom, and outside facing windows.
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Both parents must be inmates,
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and then the child can live in the prison until they are three years old.
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And if the parents aren't out by then,
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the child is sent to relatives or social services.
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The prison even has a nursery school with an outdoor playground so the kids can live a somewhat normal life.
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That's a big difference from the prison in North Korea.
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The inmates do appreciate getting to be with their children and see them grow up,
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and hopefully seeing that will help them get on the right path.
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The prison makes couples go through a two-month observation period to prove that they can co-parent correctly.
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Hopefully, these inmates getting to see their kids grow up helps them to realize they need to stay out of prison,
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but only time will tell.
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This prison was another one that people thought of more as a vacation resort rather than a prison,
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but has been overtaken and transformed.
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Tocoron Prison in Venezuela was raided by 11,000 Venezuelan soldiers on September of 2023,
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and they were shocked to find a professional baseball field,
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swimming pool, a children's playground,
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a nightclub with DJ booth,
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a steak restaurant, bedding parlors,
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and a private mini-zoo with monkeys, flamingos, and exotic birds.
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They also see sniper rifles,
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explosives, motorcycles, and Bitcoin mini-machines,
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which if they sold it today,
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they would have made over three times their money.
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And that's because this prison was overrun and being run by a gang instead of law enforcement.
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It became the headquarters for the gang boss to run his transnational empire,
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operating in multiple countries, and he was doing that inside of a prison.
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I guess if you're already there,
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they can't put you somewhere else.
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The boss was tipped off about the raid that was incoming,
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and he escaped through tunnels and still hasn't been caught with a $5 million bounty for information.
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The prison ran for about 20 years until it was raided and shut down,
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and authorities rescued the flamingos and reformed them to a public park in Caracas.
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The last prison brings us back to Norway,
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where we have what's considered the world's most humane prison,
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and a luxury alternative to bestow.
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This is the Halden prison.
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It costs $252 million to build and opened in 2010.
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Sales have flat-screen TVs, mini-fridges,
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in-suite bathrooms, and designer furniture,
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made by students from Norway's National Academy of the Arts.
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Inmates get to cook their own meals with real knives,
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record music in top-of-the-line studios,
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and have access to rock climbing walls and a library.
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When you think of prison,
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you think of high security,
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and the guards are ready for something to break out at any moment.
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But here, the guards are unarmed.
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We don't need it.
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You don't need any guns.
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We talk to the guys.
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That's our weapon.
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That your weapon is your mouth?
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Yeah and roughly half of them are women, and that's by design.
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They believe that the guards being unarmed and women reduces aggression and is more friendly,
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to the point where guards will eat lunch and play sports with the inmates.
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There's even a section for inmates to host their families for overnight visits.
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That includes a kids' play area, kitchen, and two bedrooms.
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I won't get into their crimes,
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but this place holds some violent criminals,
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not just some petty shoplifting,
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but as we talked about earlier,
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Norway has seen a drastic decrease in people re-offending.
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The 20-foot perimeter wall has a rounded top to make it look not as hostile.
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It's insane to see how different some prisons are around the world,
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but if you want to hear some of the craziest prison escapes,
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click the video on the screen here.
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Why practice speaking with this video?
Watching and practicing with the video "Comparing Prisons Around The World" provides an excellent opportunity for English learners to enhance their speaking skills. The context of the video discusses unique prison systems globally, particularly highlighting Norway's innovative approach. By engaging with the content, learners can grasp complex themes while improving their vocabulary and fluency.
One of the main benefits of practicing with this video is the real-world application of language. It encourages learners to express their opinions about social justice and rehabilitation, making speaking practice more relevant and interesting. Additionally, the video presents a clear narrative, allowing learners to shadow the speaker effectively, which can refine their pronunciation and intonation. By employing shadow speech techniques, you can mirror the speaker's tone and rhythm, leading to improved conversational skills.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
In this video, several key structures exemplify effective English use:
- Comparative Structures: The speaker uses comparisons, such as "Norway has one of the lowest re-offending rates," which helps learners understand how to express differences and similarities.
- Conditional Clauses: Phrases like "If you treat an inmate like an animal, he'll be an animal," introduce conditional sentence structures, essential for discussing hypothetical scenarios.
- Present Simple Tense: The frequent use of present simple, as in "Inmates live in wooden cabins," allows learners to practice describing ongoing situations and routines.
- Direct Speech: Quotations from inmates and officials, like "You are free but you're not free," provide insights into how to convey spoken language effectively.
These grammatical elements not only aid in comprehension but also empower learners to incorporate similar structures into their speaking practice.
Common Pronunciation Traps
English learners may encounter several pronunciation challenges in this video:
- Terms like "Bastøy": This unique prison name might cause confusion due to its unfamiliarity. Focus on emphasizing each syllable correctly- "Bas-toy."
- Words with "th" sounds: The speaker mentions "the" and "that" often. Many learners struggle with these sounds, so practicing them in the context of the video can improve clarity.
- Phrases with connected speech: Listen for contractions and flow in phrases like “he’d be an animal.” Understanding and practicing connected speech can significantly enhance your own speaking skills.
By shadowing the speaker and focusing on these tricky words and phrases, learners can build confidence and enhance their pronunciation, making them more effective communicators.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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