| Kirk Acevedo | Miguel Alvarez |
| Ernie Hudson | Warden Leo Glynn |
| Terry Kinney | Tim McManus |
| Rita Moreno | Sister Peter Marie Reimondo |
| Harold Perrineau | Augustus Hill |
| J.K. Simmons | Vern Schillinger |
| Lee Tergesen | Tobias Beecher |
| Eamonn Walker | Kareem Said |
| Dean Winters | Ryan O'Reily |
| Tom Atkins | Mayor Wilson Lowen |
| Betty Buckley | Suzanne Fitzgerald
(as Betty Lynn Buckley) |
| Anthony Chisholm | Burr Redding |
| Kathryn Erbe | Shirley Bellinger |
| Zeljko Ivanek | Governor James Devlin |
| Patti LuPone | Stella Coffa |
| Christopher Meloni | Chris Keller |
| George Morfogen | Bob Rebadow |
| Luna Lauren Velez | Dr. Gloria Nathan
(as Lauren Vélez) |
| Scott William Winters | Cyril O'Reily |
| BD Wong | Father Ray Mukada |
| Michael Wright | Omar White |
| Granville Adams | Zahir Arif |
| Robert Clohessy | Officer Sean Murphy |
| Sean Dugan | Timmy Kirk |
| Eddie Malavarca | Peter Schibetta |
| Tom Mardirosian | Agamemnon Busmalis |
| Ellen McElduff | Eleanor O'Connor |
| Craig muMs Grant | Poet
(as muMs) |
| Pepa | Officer Andrea Phelan |
| R.E. Rodgers | James Robson |
| Kristin Rohde | Officer Claire Howell |
| David Zayas | Enrique Morales |
| Chuck Zito | Chucky Pancamo |
| Andrea Anders | Donna Degenhart |
| Jerome Preston Bates | Officer Travis Smith |
| Peter Hans Benson | Reporter
(as Peter Benson) |
| Timothy L. Brown | Officer Jason Armstrong |
| Antoni Corone | Frank 'The Fixer' Urbano
(as Antoni Cornacchione) |
| Judith Delgado | Carmen Alvarez |
| Carl DiMaggio | Officer Len Lopresti |
| Mtume Gant | Reggie Rawls |
| Bash Halow | Assistant |
| Chris Jackson | Perry Loftus
(as Christopher Neal Jackson) |
| Jon Korkes | Officer Tom Robinson |
| Carlos Leon | Carlos Martinez |
| Tom Ligon | Alvin Yood |
| John Lurie | Greg Penders |
| Tara Martell | Officer |
| John Palumbo | Don Zanghi |
| Andy Powers | Franklin Winthrop |
| Blake Robbins | Officer Dave Brass |
| Otto Sanchez | Chico Guerra |
| Evan Seinfeld | Jaz Hoyt |
| Lou Sones | Steve Dawkins |
| Hank Wagner | Stein |
| Catherine Wolf | Nurse Carol Grace |
| Paul Acocella | Death Row Guard |
| Don Cebron | Correction Officer |
| John Paul Cooney | Inmate 'The Kid'+ |
| Steven Johnson | Prisoner |
| Brendan Kelly | Wolfgang Cutler |
| Calvin Powell | Prisoner |
| Steven Wishnoff | Tony Masters |
| Emmanuel Yarborough | Clarence Seroy
(as Emanuel Yarbrough) |
| Rolando J. Vargas | Spanish Inmate
(uncredited) |