The Portrayal of Prison Guards:

Hollywood’s Take On Rogue Prison Guards

Crime and Media, Section 1

Professor Greek

The Portrayal of Prison Guards:

Hollywood’s Take on the Men in Uniform

Since its conception, the world of cinema has interpreted and expressed crime in the penal system, and more specifically crimes committed by prison guards in a wide variety of ways. Yet, there are certain recurring thematical concepts and stereotypical generalizations surrounding the corrupt prison guard in cinema. One such theme is that of the omnipresent, tyrannical warden, who unjustly enforces punishments on the undeserving inmates. A second theme is the depiction of the sleazy prison guards, or those running rackets, turning their backs when foul play is occurring, and taking bribes from inmates. Yet another frequent depiction of a deviant prison guard is that of a sadistic, abusive, power-driven sociopath, who frequently engages in sexual abuse and battery. This review of the media’s depiction of deviant prison guards focuses on these three classifications.

The Tyrannical Warden

Hollywood and the movie-making industry have exploited the role of the prison warden as being one who is most often tyrannical. This character is most often employed as an antagonist to the main character. He/she is often depicted as a person with no other substance in life other than their job. He/she usually seems to live off of the existence of the jail and his/her relationship to it. For instance, in The Last Castle Robert Redford’s character General Eugene Irwin is faced with the often criminal behavior demonstrated by the prison warden, James Gandolfini’s character, Colonel Winters. (Zepfell and Laurie, 2001). On several occasions, Winters blatantly goes against military and penal system policies by subjecting his inmates to extremely harsh conditions. One such example is seen when Winters mandates a prisoner to stand in the rain for extended periods of time or when solitary confinement is used beyond its purposes. He explicitly breaks military code and thus commits a blatant crime. Another example of this same type of tyrannical behavior being exhibited by a warden is seen in the 1996 blockbuster, Murder in the First. Kevin Bacon’s character, Henry Young, is terrorized and even sliced by Warden Glenn, played by Gary Oldsmen (Frydman and Rocco, 1995).

The concept of the tyrannical warden is not specific to today’s day and age. In The Count of Monte Cristo a similar oppressive type warden is clearly displayed. When Edmund Dantes, played by James Caviezel, is unjustly sent to prison he is faced with a warden who has no sympathy or care for the inmates (Brigham and Reynolds, 2002). The warden ritualistically beats the prisoners on their admittance anniversary. He justifies his actions by claiming that this will help them keep track of the length of time they have been incarcerated. The warden also orders that meager rations of food and water be distributed to the inmates. The actions and conduct of this particular warden borderline on evil. The crimes he commits against these inmates may easily surpass the crimes the inmates themselves committed to get there. His portrayal as being ambivalent about the care of the inmates is one seen quite often when dealing with the depiction of wardens in cinema.

The acts of the tyrannical wardens and the crimes they commit are not always as extreme as those seen in The Last Castle, Murder in the First and The Count of Monte Cristo. Another example of the unfair, tyrannical warden is seen in the 1979 film Escape from Alcatraz (Daley and Siegel, 1979). In this movie, the warden played by Patrick McGoohan, cuts off the main characters’ menial privileges such as that of drawing simply because he finds a portrait of himself. Due to this trivial incident, Morris, played by Clint Eastwood is denied any drawing privileges. The abuse of power is blatantly evident. Though the action may not have been a major crime in itself, it clearly demonstrates the manner in which Hollywood chooses to depict the behavior of prison wardens.

The Sleaze-ball

Prison wardens are not the only members of the correctional facilities that get negative attention from the world of cinema. The average prison guard is a Hollywood movie favorite as well. One strong stereotype noticed is that of the sleazy, corrupt prison guards who indulge themselves in bribery and at times turn their backs when crimes are committed among prisoners. These crimes are often depicted as being common place among the prison system and prison guards. American History X provides a vivid example of this all-too-common depiction (Morrissey and Kaye, 1998). While he is doing time for murder Derek Vinyard, played by Edward Norton, is assaulted by a white supremacist group. A prison guard is in attendance when the assault is about to take place. Though it is quite obvious what is going to happen next, the guard purposely leaves the scene. It is almost as if he is condoning the actions about to take place.

The 1983 film Bad Boys seems to provide the same type of condoning attitude from the prison guards to inmates involved in criminal activities (Solo and Rosenthal, 1983). Mick, played by Sean Penn, is a juvenile delinquent sent to prison for a variety of crimes committed. In prison he learns the ropes of the formal and informal systems of justice in play. At one point in the movie, Mick is being harassed by two other inmates, Viking and Tweety. Mick takes note of their intentions of harming him and instead ambushes them, severely beating them with cans strategically placed in a pillow case. Mick is sentenced to solitary confinement. When he is released the guards have promoted him to a leader position among inmates. This series of actions clearly demonstrates the guards’ disregard for the prisoners’ safety, which is presumably their job. The guards are depicted as being criminal themselves.

In The Shawshank Redemption, there are various instances of the “sleazy” prison guard (Marvin and Darabont,1994). One instance has to do with illegal products in prison. Ellis Redding, played by Morgan Freeman, smuggles and sells illegal contraband in the prison. These objects include cigarettes and other miscellaneous things. It is obviously difficult for an inmate to acquire such materials. In order to ensure that there are no problems getting these objects he prison guards play an active role in smuggling them in. In exchange for their services they receive a cut of the profit. This is clearly criminal behavior and undoubtedly against all prison facility regulations.

The Sadist

Though the sleaze-ball character is one that is frequently used by Hollywood to depict prison guards, another characterization is even more familiar. Guards beating, abusing and assaulting prisoners for the shear satisfaction of demonstrating their power is an all too familiar scene in many prison movies. One example of this portrayal is seen in the blockbuster film Sleepers (Giuliano and Levinson, 1996). In this movie, a group of juveniles are arrested for the assault of a man. They are sent to a juvenile delinquency facility and are left at the mercy of those looking over them. The young men are constantly abused and tortured by the prison guards. They are raped on several occasions and belittled on a constant basis. Sean Nokes, played by Kevin Bacon, is the chief prison guard involved in the attacks. He shows no remorse and openly defies prison policies by engaging in this type of activity.

A prime example of the sadist prison guard depiction is seen in The Green Mile (Valdes and Darabont, 1999). Percy Whetmore, played by Doug Hutchison, is a prison guard assigned to the Death Row of a prison. He seems to be on a power trip from the beginning of the movie. His fellow guards can not even stand him. Percy seems to be fascinated with the idea of the death penalty. He antagonizes the inmates and abuses them on a regular basis. To top it all off he purposely administered the electric chair to an inmate with faulty preparation, causing a terrible occasion. Percy and characters like him depict prison guards as power driven ego-maniacs, who use and abuse their occupations.

Yet another example of the sadist approach in depicting a prison guard is seen in the movie Boricua's Bond (Bartkow and Lik, 2000). In this film, young Puerto-Rican women are sent to a prison facility. They are first time offenders and not hardened. The guards assume the sadist character type and rape and abuse them. This example falls perfectly in line with those already mentioned. The prison guards who assume the sadist character seem to look at inmates on a sub-human level. They abuse, frighten and beat them at their leisure. This is definitely the most gruesome of the character genres discussed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Hollywood has taken the penal institution and those who work in it and depicted them in a variety of negative manners. Certain characterizations such as the tyrannical warden, the sleaze-ball and the sadist are recurring and widely popular. Most all prison movies have at least one character that falls into one of the aforementioned categories. The heart wrenching question is: Are these depictions based on reality?

References

Bartkow, Alex (Producer) and Val Lik (Director). 2000. Boricua’s Bond. Hollywood: Big Ones Entertainment.

Brigham, Chris (Producer) and Kevin Reynolds (Director). 2002. The Count of Monte Cristo. Hollywood: Touchstone Pictures.

Daley, Robert (Producer) and Don Siegel (Director). 1979. Escape From Alcatraz. Hollywood: Paramount Pictures.

Frydman, Marc (Producer) and Marc Rocco (Director). 1995. Murder in the First. Hollywood: Warner Bros.

Giuliano, Peter (Producer) and Barry Levinson (Director). 1996. Sleepers. Hollywood: Warner Bros.

Marvin, Nikki (Producer) and Frank Darabont (Director). 1994. The Shawshank Redemption. Hollywood: Castle Rock Entertainment.

Morrissey, John (Producer) and Tony Kaye (Director). 1998. American History X. Hollywood: New Line Cinema.

Solo, Robert H. (Producer) and Rick Rosenthal (Director). 1983. Bad Boys. Hollywood: EMI Films.

Valdes, David (Producer) and Frank Darabont (Director). 1999. The Green Mile. Hollywood: Castle Rock Entertainment.

Zepfell, Don (Producer), and Rod Lurie (Director). 2001. The Last Castle. Hollywood: Dream Works SKG.