60 Days In Season 7 - Here's What We Can Tell Fans So Far

For the past two decades, A&E has become less known for its lighter fare and more for its education shows and documentaries. "60 Days In" is one of the shows on A&E that has gained popularity since its premiere in 2016. Per IMDb, the series focuses on seven participants as they go undercover as prisoners at jails across the U.S. "without fellow inmates or staff knowing" to see what jail life is actually like. While the show showcases the lesser-known struggles that prisoners face on a daily basis, it also has been criticized for putting volunteers in danger. Viewers may think they know what being in prison is really like from watching films and TV shows, but volunteers on "60 Days In" have to fake it until they make it, oftentimes getting themselves into brawls with other inmates, per Screen Rant.

Despite the risks the volunteers have to take, there is an appetite for this sort of content on television, which is why the show has been on the air for six seasons. The last episode of Season 6 aired on April 30, 2020, according to IMDb, and fans are still anxiously waiting for the show to come back on the air. Here's everything we know so far about "60 Days In" Season 7.

The first few seasons of "60 Days In" had a varying release schedule, but Season 4 through Season 6 have regularly premiered at the beginning of January, with one season per year premiering from 2018 to 2020. However, A&E did not follow tradition this year as "60 Days In" never got a Season 7 release date. A reason for the delay is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has halted production for most reality shows throughout the past year because of the inability to socially distance. COVID-19 infection rates have been especially problematic in prisons with population density and unsanitary conditions, according to The New York Times.

Considering these difficulties, it would make sense that the producers of "60 Days In" would put the show on a brief hiatus until the pandemic gets under control. Another reason why A&E hasn't announced anything could be that the show's actually been canceled, which is what Premiere Date is reporting, though the network has not yet officially confirmed the news. Regardless, fans should keep their eyes out for any news about a potential Season 7 pick-up in the coming months!

One of the appeals of "60 Days In" is how volunteers initially conceal their identities to assimilate into the system. The drawback, though, is that after the show airs, the public will be well aware of the volunteers and their names. Thus, each season brings a new crop of volunteers and no duping scenarios, all while bringing in individuals with different ages and backgrounds.

For example, in Season 6, one of the volunteers was Alex — a political science major — who wanted to "expand his knowledge of the criminal justice system outside of what he learns from textbooks and TV shows," according to his biography on A&E's website. Shanese, another volunteer, joined the show because she wanted to put her experience with at-risk youth to the test and see if she could undertake the challenges in the incarceration system. Clearly, most of the volunteers are interested in the lives of inmates or want to find ways of bettering the system through their participation.

If Season 7 returns to A&E, the cast will likely consist of similar individuals with ties to the incarceration system or who just want to learn about hardships inmates face through their sentences.

Like the cast, the location of "60 Days In" also changes from season to season. Per The Cinemaholic, Seasons 1 and 2 were both filmed in Clark County Jail in Jeffersonville, Indiana, but that was because the show was kept under wraps and had to be filmed discreetly. To preserve the secrecy, the show filmed two seasons in one go — and followed the same strategy for Seasons 3 and 4, which were filmed in Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia. However, the show changed strategy and locations in Seasons 5 and 6, which took place in Pinal County Jail in Florence, Arizona, and Etowah County Detention Center in Gadsden, Alabama, respectively.

Based on previous seasons, it is likely that Season 7 of "60 Days In" will take place in the southern U.S. again, but a specific location has not been determined yet. For now, fans can only wait for A&E to announce when the show is coming back — and let's hope it won't be long because this show can be pretty riveting if a little intense.