Carol and Annetta run away from a youth reformatory, but are soon caught and sent to an institution with more severe rules. There, daily abuse and the hierarchy of power corrupt the relationships they form with their companions. Scrubbers was produced and distributed in the United Kingdom following the success of Scum (1979), which portrayed the toxic environment of male reformatories in Britain — and the screenwriter from that film, Roy Minton, is the co-screenwriter for this work.