I put this in the Politics section, as in a way its a story of what happens when domestic politics, grandstanding, bigotry, grace & favour etc, get out of control and we loose sight of reality in the race to become "Mr Big".
A couple of hours ago I finished watching a DVD called “Murder in the First”, first released to cinemas in 1994. Its an adaptation of a true story set in Alcatraz of Henri Young, a 1930’s convict. Henri is (in the film) someone who was convicted of stealing $5, attempts to escape (it was the fourth of 14 known escape attempts from Alcatraz in its time in operation), is caught and spends 3 years in solitary confinement for the escape attempt (in fact in real life he was a convicted Bank Robber & Murderer – hence being sent to Alcatraz in the first place). However apart from the Hollywood embellishment of the original offence, and the real life defense being done by two lawyers – not one as in the film – it’s a true depiction of events. Its a remarkable and disturbing story.
Henri spent three years inside solitary in a totally enclosed cell as punishment for the escape attempt. No light, bug & rat infested, with water constantly running down the walls. He was regularly beaten and brutalised by the Assistant Warden at the time, by hanging him from the ceiling and beating him with blackjacks, sticks etc. Worse incidents occurred, the beatings were just the tip of the iceberg. This was allegedly “rehabilitating” him. He saw daylight for 30 mins in those three years. On return to the normal cells he was technically insane, a gibbering wreck, and within hours murdered an inmate who had informed the authorities of the original escape attempt.
The film spends most of its time on the trial for the inmate’s murder. It’s a depressing and huge indictment of what can happen when Institutions are not properly controlled, and lack the needed Oversight mechanisms. A convicted murderer he may have been in real life, but that does not excuse the brutal sadistic treatment at the hands of the Penal system. It goes far beyond “punishment” or “retribution”. I am no bleeding heart Liberal or softie Socialist, far far from it I assure you – but no man deserves what happened to him, whatever they have done. This was 160 years after the principles of “Truth, Liberty and Justice” had rightly been fought for, but society sure as hell didn’t deliver that on this occasion.
There are “worse” events in history of course, and in many Countries (this is not an attack on the US), an infamous case being that of Dreyfus in France. The Henri Young case ripped apart the Penal system, and had shock waves reaching to the very top of it, even Hoover had to do some body swerving. We all hope that with lessons learnt, it will not happen again, but who knows …. One thing is for sure, anyone who believes all is rosey out there with a model perfect system because that’s what they read, would do well to watch this remarkable film as a warning of what can happen when we get lazy and complacent with the Freedoms others gave us through their suffering.
Kevin Bacon played the part of Henri, a superb performance. Well worth hunting down a copy, most DVD rental agencies have it. A Remarkable film of a despicable episode in the Penal systems history.