Edward Bunker and Danny Trejo had served time together in the 1970's. In Bunkers autobiography, Education of a Felon, Trejo was the prison gossip.
Willem Dafoe, Edward Furlong, and Mark Boone Junior visited San Quentin State Prison to research their roles.
Many of the film's scenes were shot on location at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which closed for good in 1971 and reopened to the public in 1994.
The director, Steve Buscemi, and source author, Edward Bunker, played Mr. Pink and Mr. Blue in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.
Mickey Rourke purchased various items from lingerie stores for his role as transvestite Jan the Actress.