''Violence in a Women's Prison'' () is a

women in prison film The women-in-prison film (or WiP film) is a subgenre of exploitation film that began in the early 20th century and continues to the present day. Their stories feature imprisoned women who are subjected to sexual and physical abuse, typically by ...

directed by

Bruno Mattei Bruno Mattei (30 July 1931 – 21 May 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and film editor, editor who directed exploitation films in many genres, including Women in prison film, women in prison, nunsploitation, Zombie films, zombi ...

. The film stars

Laura Gemser Laurette Marcia Gemser (born 5 October 1950) is an Indonesian-Dutch retired actress, model and costume designer. She is primarily known for her work in Cinema of Italy, Italian Sex in film, erotic cinema, most notably the ''Emmanuelle#Other film ...

and Gabriele Tinti. It tells the story of Emanuelle, who is sent to Santa Catarina Women's Penitentiary for drugs and prostitution, where she meets the warden and the other inmates. Her actual reason is undercover reporting for

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

. It is the seventh film in the '' Emanuelle nera'' film series and the first one directed by Mattei.

Plot

Under a false identity,

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Emanuelle (

) pretends to be a

drug dealer A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestio ...

to get herself sent to

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

in order to investigate and document the brutality and abuses that inmates are subjected to. While there she is attacked, locked in solitary confinement, and injured. Emanuelle is helped by Dr. Moran ( Gabriele Tinti) and some prisoners, and is able to report her findings, after which the

perpetrators In law enforcement jargon, a suspect is a known person accused or suspected of committing a crime. Police and reporters in the United States often use the word suspect as a jargon when referring to the perpetrator of the offense (perp in dated U. ...

are arrested.

Cast

Emanuelle Emmanuelle is the lead character in a series of French erotic films based on the protagonist in the novel of the same name, by Emmanuelle Arsan, written in 1959 and published in 1967. Emmanuelle originated as the pen name ''Emmanuelle Arsan'' ...

/ Laura Kendall * Gabriele Tinti as Dr. Moran * Maria Romano as Kitty * Ursula Flores as Consuelo * Antonella Giacomini as Malone * Franco Caracciolo as Leander * Françoise Perrot as Hertha * Lorraine De Selle as Head Warden * Jacques Stany as Chief Inspector * Leila Durante as Pilar * Franca Stoppi as Rescaut * Raul Cabrera as Miguel

Production

''Violence in a Women's Prison'' was directed by Bruno Mattei who is credited as Vincent Dawn or Gilbert Roussel in some prints.

Release

''Violence in a Women's Prison'' was released in 1982. It was released as ''Caged Women'' in the United States in April 1984. The film also has the alternative title ''Women's Penitentiary 4''.

Critical response

Allmovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, television series, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was ...

gave the film a rating of one star out of five, noting that "Mattei doesn't skimp on the nastiness, presenting a three-way catfight on a floor full of feces, Gemser nibbled by rats in solitary confinement, a homosexual who is sodomized to death after his straight cellmates are aroused by a striptease, and various rapes, tortures, and vomit scenes."

Home media

The

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

was first released by Shriek Show for Region 1 in December 2002. The all-region

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

was released by

Severin Films Severin Films is an American independent film production and distribution company known for restoring and releasing cult films on DVD and Blu-ray. It is considered a boutique Blu-ray and DVD label. History The label was created in 2006 in Los A ...

in May 2018.

References

Parenthetical sources

* *

External links

*
''Violence in a Women's Prison''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

1980s exploitation films 1980s prison films Lesbian-related films Italian sexploitation films Women in prison films Emanuelle Films directed by Bruno Mattei Films scored by Luigi Ceccarelli 1980s Italian films 1980s French films {{Exploitation-film-stub