Movies Like Scrubbers

If you liked Scrubbers (1982), a drama movie directed by Mai Zetterling, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
Three young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum.
2
Dead Man Walking (1995)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
A death row inmate turns for spiritual guidance to a local nun in the days leading up to his scheduled execution for the murders of a young couple.
3
The Mustang (2019)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
While participating in a rehabilitation program training wild mustangs, a convict at first struggles to connect with the horses and his fellow inmates, but he learns to confront his violent past as he soothes an…
4
The Unforgivable (2021)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
5
Return to Sender (2015)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
A nurse mistakes a stranger who pays her a visit for her blind date and soon, the man rapes her and turns her life upside down. The woman works to reclaim her life and exact revenge on her assailant after he's paroled…
6
Bad Boys (1983)
★ 7/10Also drama
Mick O'Brien is a young Chicago street thug torn between a life of petty crime and the love of his girlfriend. But when the heist of a local drug dealer goes tragically wrong Mick is sentenced to a brutal juvenile…
7
Sleepers (1996)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
Two gangsters seek revenge on the state jail worker who during their stay at a youth prison sexually abused them. A sensational court hearing takes place to charge him for the crimes.
8
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
★ 8.7/10Also drama
Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden…
9
Midnight Express (1978)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of a country. The courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made…
10
Papillon (1973)
★ 7.8/10Also drama
A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.
11
Nowhere to Run (1993)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
Escaped convict Sam Gillen single-handedly takes on ruthless developers who are determined to evict a widow with two young children.
12
Traitor (2008)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
When straight arrow FBI agent Roy Clayton heads up the investigation into a dangerous international conspiracy, all clues seem to lead back to former U.S. Special Operations officer Samir Horn.
13
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
★ 8.4/10Also drama
A petty criminal fakes insanity to serve his sentence in a mental ward rather than prison. He soon finds himself as a leader to the other patients—and an enemy to the cruel, domineering nurse who runs the ward.
14
Maze (2017)
★ 5.8/10Also drama
Inspired by the true events of the infamous 1983 prison breakout of 38 IRA prisoners from HMP Maze, which was to become the biggest prison escape in Europe since World War II.
15
Cape Fear (1991)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, Bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? 14 years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape…
16
Bronson (2009)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
A young man who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending 30 years in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter ego, Charles Bronson.
17
The Concrete Jungle (1982)
★ 6/10Also drama
An unfortunate and naive girl is set up by her boyfriend and convicted of drug smuggling. She is sent to a women's correctional facility where she must constantly struggle to survive.
18
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
★ 7.7/10Also drama
When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's…
19
Against the Wall (1994)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
In 1971, a warden at Attica Penitentiary is caught up in a hostage crisis when inmates take over the prison to demand better living conditions.
20
The United States of Leland (2003)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
A withdrawn young man, Leland Fitzgerald is imprisoned for the murder of a mentally disabled boy, who also happened to be the brother of his girlfriend, Becky. As the community struggles to deal with the killing, Pearl…