Nicolas Cage and director John Carpenter are about to team up for prison thriller Scared Straight.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Scared Straight follows a troubled youth who's sent to prison off the Scared Straight crime-prevention program, which imprisons delinquent teens for a short period in the hopes of deterring them from a life of crime. While the teen is there, a riot breaks out and the prisoners take him hostage. A lifer, played by Cage, is forced to help the young man out.

The project was set up at New Line for a couple of years but was let go recently. Contrafilm brought the project to Emmett/Furla Films, which has a deal with Nu Image/ Millennium.

Joe Gazzam wrote the original spec, which was rewritten by Ron Brinkerhoff.

An October start is being eyed.