Would you spend a night in jail if you didn't have to?

What about two months?

Seven ordinary people did exactly that on A&E's new documentary series "60 Days In," which premieres on Thursday night. The show follows the participants' experiences as undercover inmates at an Indiana jail.

The volunteers — none of whom had criminal records — were booked on fake charges and assumed false identities during their stays at Clark County Jail in Jeffersonville.

Provided with a small stipend to compensate for not working, they lived among the jail's 500-inmate population without corrections officers or other inmates knowing their secret.

The show is the brainchild of Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel, who said that he needed outsiders to give him an honest look at life behind bars.

"The only way to truly understand what was going on in the jail was to implement innocent participants into the system to provide first-hand unbiased intelligence," Noel said in a statement provided by A&E. "These brave volunteers helped us identify critical issues within our system that undercover officers would not have been able to find."

Aside from pointing out systematic problems, the participants provided Noel with key details about the social dynamics that govern daily life for inmates, he told Business Insider.

For example, some of the undercover inmates informed him of a strict hierarchy that dictated when inmates could use the bathroom. New inmates were expected to fork over food or items bought in the jail commissary in exchange for bathroom privileges, according to Noel.

"Even folks in corrections for 20-plus years had never heard of that," he said.

In one disturbing scene in an episode, two participants witness a bloody fight between inmates ignited by a mealtime dispute.

"The fight had an obvious cause and effect," a participant and former Marine, Zac, said on camera. "Ricky was supposed to give his hash browns to Cody. He didn't give his hash browns to Cody. He got beat up for it."

View photos 60 days in More

Another participant, a housewife named Barbara, told Business Insider that new inmates were especially vulnerable.

"When you go into jail and you're an inmate, and it's your first time, the other inmates automatically take advantage of you. They can sense it," she said. "I had things stolen from me. There were issues with taking a shower, trying to sleep, and where to sleep."

Over the course of two months, the participants said, they experienced violence and sexual harassment from fellow prisoners and witnessed drug use and deals between inmates. About 80% of the jail's population were there on drug-related charges, according to Noel.

Participants also confirmed to Noel a long-held suspicion: that some inmates had purposely gotten arrested because drugs were cheaper in jail than they were on the street.

Another participant, Maryum Ali — the eldest daughter of boxing great Muhammad Ali — said that the experience was "the most scared I've ever been in my life," People reported.

View photos 60 days in More

At the end of her two months, Ali told Noel that the jail needed better drug-treatment services, which led to the establishment of a Narcotics Anonymous program for inmates, Noel said.