Escape From Absolom (aka No Escape/The Penal Colony/The Prison Colony, 1994, U.S.A.)

The year is 2022, prison systems from all over the world are now run by private corporations and have become business. After being sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his commanding officer who ordered him to wipe out innocent people. Convicted soldier John Robbins is dumped on the prison island Absolom (after he refused to execute his cell-mate and assaulted the Warden). On Absolom, convicts are put there to either survive or die. Robbins finds the prison island is inhabited by two camps, The Outsiders, tribes of savage prisoners led by the evil Walter Merrick and The Insiders, a community of prisoners living in a fortified village ‘The Compound’ led by The Father. Robbins finds escape from Absolom is impossible, surveillance satellites monitor Absolom and gunships prevent all convicts from escaping from the prison island and The Warden has secretly put a spy on Absolom. Caught up in a feud between the two camps, Robbins is determined to escape from the prison island …

Stars Ray Liotta (Goodfellas), Lance Henriksen (Aliens, The Quick and the Dead) and Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters).

This film was shot in Australia – primarily in Far North Queensland. Sadly, it is also set in the same year that star Ray Liotta passed away.