It's the year 1997 and the United States is in trouble. World War III is raging and the United States is locked in an never-ending battle with the Soviet Union and China. Crime is on the rise and the nation's penal system is overwhelmed. In a desperate attempt to win the war on crime, the island of Manhattan is walled off and converted into a maximum security prison where the inmates run wild and no one can escape. The system seems to work well enough, until the unthinkable happens.