# Prison Cell 211 (2025)

> A human rights lawyer poses as an inmate during a prison riot and slowly loses himself in the chaos.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/161739

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 6
- Episode runtime: 36 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: Gibrán Portela
- Network: Netflix
- Cast: Diego Calva, Noé Hernández, Gerardo Taracena, Karina Gidi, Alejandro Puente, Ana Sofía Gatica, Pedro de Tavira, Roberto Duarte
- TMDB rating: 6.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31223067/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: tense, claustrophobic, bleak, gritty, intense

## What critics say

Audiences rated this Mexican prison thriller negatively, with a modest average score across its single season.

## Synopsis

Prison Cell 211 (2025) is a Mexican crime miniseries created by Gibrán Portela for Netflix. Across six episodes of roughly 36 minutes each, human rights lawyer Juan Olvera (Diego Calva) is caught in a violent prison riot and makes a desperate choice: he poses as an inmate to stay alive. The engine of the story is his struggle to keep the disguise intact while navigating rival prisoner factions and a volatile hierarchy led by figures such as Calancho (Noé Hernández) and Cándara (Gerardo Taracena). Each episode tightens the pressure as alliances shift and violence escalates, while personal losses on the outside push Olvera toward darker decisions. Prison administrators, guards and inmates are all implicated in the chaos, and the authorities who should protect the prisoners are as unsettling as the men inside. The atmosphere is claustrophobic, tense and morally bleak, with a grim, gritty texture that recalls the institutional brutality of Oz and the hostage-style pressure of Hostages. Its single-season, self-contained run makes it a concentrated, intense watch for fans of crime drama, prison thrillers and character-driven survival stories.

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- [Riot Police (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/81038)
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- [The Search (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/17320)

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