In Prisoner, our tour of a run-down Danish prison is given through the eyes of a newbie guard on his first day. Sammi (Youssef Wayne Hvidtfeldt) begins his job with idyllic enthusiasm, but is swiftly reprimanded for disrupting an obvious drug trafficking operation. Looking the other way to keep the peace is the prison’s modus operandi, but not for long.

Under threat of closure, the guards have to restore order against the current anything-goes approach. This is welcome news for Miriam (Sofie Gråbøl), a veteran guard who brings a touch of humanity to her work. She, along with Sammi and most of the other prison guards have dimensions to their characters outside the prison walls, which boils over into a battle for survival.