I have just watched this series and came on to see if there was a thread.
Barbra - I started off thinking she was a patronising little cow, but warmed to her by the time they came to the reflection programme at the end when they were all out - and then went back to thinking she was up her own arse again. I got the impression that her husband was sick of her whining and that she was happier to be out than he was to have her back home. She definitely thought she :"knew it all"
Tami - I felt a bit sorry for - I thought that because she was used to dealing with criminals, she'd find it easiest, but it was the opposite; she couldn't cope with it just because she was used to having the upper hand in the power situation. But she was a kind person, and I think Barbra should have helped her out when she got into a fight.
Maryum/Yazmin - my God! That woman had such a high opinion of herself because her father was Muhammed Ali. Having to "change her name" because someone might recognise her as she "favoured her father". Come on! She looked nothing like him. She was a chubby black woman in a country full of chubby black women - no-one's going to know who she is. I also think she was put into a pod and a cell which was comparatively safe for her - she was protected as far as they were able to protect her, and the editing made sure that she came out as a wonderful, selfless person who had helped the other prisoners. In fact, no matter what she claimed about her drawings (a funny squiggle that looked a bit like a foot, just above a flag), she had, just as Barbra said drawn a black foot stamping on the US flag - it was deliberately provocative to Barbra whose husband was in the army. I didn't like her at all.
Isaiah - personally I can't understand why anyone needs to go into prison to ensure that he doesn't end up in jail. I appreciate that his brother was serving umpteen years ad he didn't want to end up the same way - but honestly! Just don't break the law, son. He grew up a lot in prison - I didn't blame him for not wanting to take part in the follow-up programme because he had got himself together and was on a college course and didn't want anything to impinge on it. Good for him - I was pleased that he had matured and was doing so well for himself.
Jeff - dear me! An amiable enough guy, but there is no way he had the temperament to become a prison officer (which is why he wanted to do the "time" - to put it on his CV.). He just didn't command respect. `i did feel sorry for him though - getting beaten up must have been terrifying! All of the twitterati who said they would have fought back - keyboard warriors! I wouldn't; it would have provoked even more violence. But he was totally out of his depth. While I thought it was hard for him when Zac said he wouldn't trust him to have his back - I think it was a hard truth and needed to be said. The same comment was written all over the two police officers who were there, even though they didn't voice it.
Zac - lovely guy. What a shame he was having so much trouble getting a job afterwards. I was really surprised - I would have thought he would be ideal as a police officer. But when I heard what his daft wife had done, I could understand why. (He was a probationer police officer. She was frightened by a group of youths outside her house, and she she picked up and accidentally discharged his service pistol). He really should NOT have had a loaded gun - with the safety catch off - in the house. It was ultimately his responsibility. It said at the end that he had been offered a number of jobs. I hope he accepted one and has done well in it.
And finally - The Robert! What can any of us say about someone who refers to himself as THE Robert? It's bad enough talking about yourself in the third person, without giving yourself a definite article. TBH I think that there is so much wrong with him, I don't know where to start - anyone would really have to watch the programme to see what I mean - but he was barking! He should never have been accepted for the programme - it was obvious to anyone that he is some sort of - I don't know - there's something not right. I didn't know whether to feel sorry for him or contemptuous of him; in the end, I felt both. That man was a danger to himself, and possibly to others - he was cowardly and totally without self-awareness. He re-framed everything to make himself the hero of every situation. There was something rather pathetic about him. I'd love to know what his early life was like, that he felt such a need to always be right, to lie constantly, to boast and deny and twist the truth. He was a very sad character. And embarrassing in the way he kept trying to draw people's attention to his TV time - and yet he spent that time in solitary; a situation he had deliberately brought upon himself because he was frightened of the prison atmosphere. Had he admitted his fear, I could have respected him - but he was like a little kid who talks tough all of the time, but who is terrified beneath the skin. Sad.