• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, August 21, 2025

A new A&E docuseries doesn’t exactly count as family programming in the wholesome way that the phrase “family programming” is generally applied.

But it is about family, except that these particular family relations play out in prison. Welcome to “Family Lockup,” the latest basic-cable TV series designed to take you inside the Big House walls.

A&E has been to lockups of all kinds, including prisons, county lockups and even the stadium lockup at Huntington Bank Field, home of the Cleveland Browns.

When “Stadium Lockup” premiered last March, it joined a stable of programs on A&E offering jail-based escapism, including “60 Days In,” “Booked: First Day In” and “Inmate To Roommate.” 

Cable’s prison obsession has been around at least since the arrival of the docuseries “Lockup” on MSNBC in 2005 -- one of the best shows of the entire decade of the ’00s.

Not to be outdone, NatGeo came up with its own prison program with “Lockdown” in 2006 and the race for prison-program dominance was on.

But today, A&E is TV’s jailhouse champ. In the new “Family Lockup,” ordinary, law-abiding people agree to spend 48 hours in a prison where a loved one is having an extended stay to see if the inmate relative will accept their support in return for making a commitment to obey the law when they are released.

In Episode One of “Family Lockup” -- airing Thursday at 10 p.m. Eastern -- a New Hampshire man (above photo, left) tries to get close to his estranged, incarcerated son, who is in prison for violating his parole stemming from a manslaughter conviction.

The main sticking point between the two is the son’s drug addiction, which has apparently not ceased even behind bars. 

The dad wants to support his son when he is released, but he needs his son to seek and accept help for his addiction, or else he will not be welcomed home.

In the one-hour, 10-episode series, TV therapist Jeff Gardere is on hand to facilitate the face-to-face sessions between loved ones who are separated by more than just prison bars.

“Family Lockup” is from the same production company that produces “60 Days In” for A&E, Lucky 8. 

On that show, individuals work undercover as prison inmates to spy on their fellow prisoners and report back to prison authorities. 

One of the weaknesses of “Family Lockup” is the idea that the loved ones from the outside must masquerade as prisoners in order to get access to their relatives on the inside.

The reason seems to be that the law-abiding outsiders will be in a better position to empathize with their jailed family members after they too get a taste of life on the inside. 

The TV Blog refuses to spoil the experience of watching “Family Lockup” by revealing whether or not this scheme bears fruit in the form of restored family relations.

If nothing else, “Family Lockup” demonstrates how far some people will go to help a loved one in trouble.