Prison Brides may be all lovey-dovey, but the inmates featured on the show have all been convicted of some pretty serious crimes.
Chances are that there are many different questions that you have asked yourself since you started watching Lifetime’s new docuseries, Prison Brides.
But we are fairly certain that “what did these men do to end up in jail?” was near the top of the list.
The dark side of the Prison Brides relationships
The reality is that while it is easy to see the cast of Prison Brides through somewhat rose-colored glasses after hearing all about their tragic love stories over the course of the show’s first season – most of the men featured on the show were sentenced to multiple years within the United States criminal justice system for horrible, and often extremely violent crimes.
And the crimes that they have been charged with range from armed robbery to second-degree murder.
Summarizing all of the Prison Brides criminal histories
Although Prison Brides does provide a short blurb about what each inmate (or former inmate) on the show was charged with and their sentence, there is often much more to the story than meets the eye (except for Michael and Craig’s cases, which have proven quite tricky to track down).
Some quick good old-fashioned internet sleuthing has revealed the following about what landed each of the Prison Brides inmates in jail:
Inmate | Crime |
Joseph | Sentenced to 11 years for armed robbery, assault (with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder) and felony firearms in 2012 |
Michael | Sentenced to 9 years in prison for armed robbery |
Craig | Sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempted aggravated robbery |
Curtis | Charged with carjacking, armed robbery, extortion, unlawful driving away of an automobile, receiving and concealing a stolen motor vehicle, carrying a weapon with unlawful intent, third-degree fleeing and eluding, being a felon in possession of a firearm and second-degree felony firearms violation in 2017, but he was sentenced to 20 years in prison (with credit if 166 days’ time is served). Curtis also received an addition two-year sentence for this crime in another state |
Cage | Sentenced to 50 years in prison in 2014 (eligible for parole after 25 years) for aggravated robbery with an affirmative finding on use of a deadly weapon |
KJ | Sentenced to eight years for a first-degree home invasion, possession of a firearm in commission of a felony, carrying a concealed weapon and two counts of resisting and obstructing officers causing injury in 2017 |
Jamal | Sentenced to 20 to 40 years’ imprisonment in 2012 for a second-degree murder conviction and two years’ imprisonment for a felony-firearm conviction |
The inmates who have been released on the show
While hearing about all of the long-term sentences that the men featured on Prison Brides were charged with can be overwhelming, Prison Brides does not only focus on the negative.
In fact, throughout the show’s first eight episodes, viewers have actually been able to watch along as some of the show’s inmates get released.
So far, over half of Prison Brides’ male cast has been able to meet and embrace their significant others as free (or at least, semi-free) men on the outside. This includes Joseph, Michael and Craig.
Who is already back in jail?
Most of the men featured on the first season of Prison Brides have spent their entire adult lives in prison.
And while that sentiment is sad enough as it is, the even bleaker reality is that just over 37.1% of prisoners eventually return to prison for a different or related crime (according to wisevoter.com).
And according to a 2018 report by the Department of Justice, five out of six of a select group of prisoners returned to prison within 9 years of their initial release.
Unfortunately, it seems as though reality television fame has not exempted the Prison Brides cast from this horrible statistic, as the internet is already flooded with rumors that both Craig and Michael have now returned to prison on new charges.
Where do the Prison Brides couples stand now?
A lot has happened so far in the first season of Prison Brides and now that we have recapped how all the men in the show’s cast ended up in prison, it is probably time that we recap where all of these unconventional relationships stand currently.
As of the end of episode eight, all of the Prison Brides relationships can be summarized as follows:
Couple | Status |
Joseph and Svea | In a relationship |
Michael and Erin | Engaged |
Craig and Jessica | Married |
Curtis and Emma | Married |
Cage and Andreea | In a relationship |
KJ and Olivia | Married |
Jamal and Gabby | Married |