Shawshank combines two genres: escape fantasy and prison movie. Although stylistically and thematically, the film sets itself apart from other prison movies, it does employ classic prison movie devices, including corrupt prison authorities, unchecked inmate violence, and sexual assault. The lead character, Andy, played by Tim Robbins, must endure the repeated experience of homosexual rape at the hands of the “Sisters,” men who represent the perceived brutal side of prison life. The ultimate message is that the prison experience is so brutal and entrenched that no one can truly be rehabilitated.
The prison librarian, Brooks, has lived in an institutional setting for so long that not only has he adjusted to it, but he cannot survive outside its walls. Consequently, when he is released and reenters society without the support of people he knows and the familiarity of the structured environment in which he had lived for so long, he cannot cope and hangs himself.
Finally, the third key inmate character is the old-timer, Red (played by Morgan Freeman). He is African American and seamlessly manages to navigate the racial conflicts and the politics of the prison. Through his friendship with the White character, Andy, he moves beyond the loneliness and despair that he too experiences upon release. He violates parole to follow clues to hidden money Andy has put away, and he is magically transported to Mexico to live out his days with his buddy.29 It is only through the extraordinary intervention of Andy, culminating in an utterly mythologized ending where the two friends meet on some nameless, featureless beach in Mexico, that Red can actually be redeemed. This is not unlike other prison films that require the intervention of some metaphysical force for any type of lasting reintegration to take place.
The film never posits anything other than a broadly cast, allegorical reentry or redemption, rather than the specific example of an ex-offender successfully reintegrating into society.30 Consider the recurring parole hearing scenes, which serve as markers of Red’s slow progress into hardbitten wisdom. As film critic Roger Ebert characterized it in his review, “in his first appeal [Red] tries to convince the board he’s been rehabilitated. In the second, he just goes through the motions. In the third, he rejects the whole notion of rehabilitation, and somehow in doing so he sets his spirit free, and the board releases him.”31 Finally, at least one reviewer picked up on the trope of prison as a “school” for crime, as Janet Maslin takes note of Andy’s successful new career as the prison financial consultant offering shady advice to the warden and his guards.32
In the twentieth-century prison depicted in Shawshank, the concept of reformation had practically disappeared. For the most part, penitentiaries like Shawshank are seen as serving a purely custodial function—as a warehouse for the convicted. This warehousing prison philosophy reemerged in the 1980s and 1990s and has remained part of our prison landscape.
The ultimate messages of Shawshank are threefold. First, prison is brutal and numbing and most inmates cannot make it through the experience once they have been exposed to this illogical and meaningless place. Second, prison becomes so debilitating that its members lose their ability to function in the external world. As sentences become longer, we have old-timers like Abraham who cleaned Wakefield prison long after his sentence is completed, and Brooks, who is unable to function outside the prison. Finally, the only way to prevent the inevitable destruction of spirit is to escape the confines of society. Redemption is ultimately linked to escape, not reintegration.
Television provides an opportunity to reach more individuals than can be reached in movie theaters. Cable takes characters and storylines that were once deemed too intense, too explicit, and too violent for television and puts them in late-evening slots. Cable tends to take more chances and devotes more time to character development, while at the same time still seeking the dramatic content to move the story and the viewer.
2. Oz
The HBO hit series Oz, which ran for six seasons between 1997 and 2003, depicted daily prison life as brutal and chaotic. One reporter wrote, “mention Oz to those who have seen it and many will squirm at its soap-operatic tales of scheming, divided loyalties and unfortunate consequences, namely shankings, rapes and beatings.”33 The aim of the show, as expressed by the writer/producer Tom Fontana, was to create a realistic representation of prison life, and “not to entertain people.”34 His notion of what “real prison life” looked like suggested that “it lets you know there’s a part of society out there that you don’t want any contact with.”35 Unfortunately, it also led viewers to conclude that they didn’t want any contact with the people in prison—while they are inside or, presumably, once they are released.
Because the prison is perceived as a brutal, inhumane place and prisoners as its unflinchingly evil inhabitants, Oz only served to confirm viewers’ notions of prison life. As it turns out, viewers were both entertained by the program and convinced of the “deeper truths” mined by Oz. A sampling of viewer comments36 regarding the show reveals that much of its appeal derives, in fact, from the assumption that it depicts prison life “unflinchingly”—i.e., as it really is. “Dark, dark drama about life in prison. If you want to scare kids straight, make them watch Oz; if that does not turn their life around nothing will.”37 The unchallenged assumption that the drama and violence as shown in Oz and other television and movie dramas constitutes an accurate portrayal has led individuals to form inaccurate beliefs about prison and what prison and reentry policy should look like.
C. What the Public Thinks It Knows
Generally speaking, the public knows little of correctional institutions, especially compared to its knowledge of other law enforcement agencies.38 This is not surprising given that prisons are closed spaces, and most people have never had reason to be inside a prison in any capacity.39 Also, the lack of knowledge about prisons is not new. According to a study conducted forty years ago in the United States, researchers found that “people are generally ignorant of [prison] programs.”40
Although the public also holds gross misconceptions about other criminal justice issues, such as the rate of crime, “perhaps the area reflecting the greatest degree of misunderstanding and misinformation is institutional corrections.”41 While one might expect that the general public would only pay attention to corrections issues if it had a direct experience with them, one might also expect that our most educated citizens would have more than a superficial understanding of institutions that constitute part of the enforcement of the social contract. In a survey of undergraduate college students, respondents were asked to estimate the prevalence of antisocial behavior in prisons. Students were asked to estimate (1) the number of inmates killed by inmates in prison; (2) the number of correctional officers killed by inmates; and (3) the number of male sexual assaults in prison. The results show that all students, even those majoring in criminal justice, vastly overestimated the frequency of these events.
• Inmates killed by inmates. Of all undergraduate students, 64.5 percent thought that more than four hundred inmates were killed by other inmates on a yearly basis. In 2002, according to the Corrections Compendium, the actual number of inmates killed was seventeen.42
• Corrections officers killed by inmates. Most college students (39.2 percent) thought that between ten and ninety-nine corrections officers were killed by inmates. A full 25.3 percent thought more than four hundred were killed. In 2002, a total of one corrections officer was actually killed by an inmate.43
Given our knowledge of the frequency with which the news and entertainment media focus on these types of images in programming, this study strongly suggests that this media focus influences beliefs. Even when individuals have access to better-quality information, the influence of media images seems compelling.
D. Public Attitudes toward Incarceration
The myths