Brubaker
In 1969, a mysterious man (Robert Redford) arrives at Wakefield State Prison in Arkansas. As an inmate, he immediately witnesses rampant abuse and corruption, including open and endemic sexual assault, torture, worm-ridden diseased food, insurance fraud and a doctor charging inmates for care. Brubaker eventually reveals himself—during a dramatic standoff involving Walter (Morgan Freeman), a deranged prisoner who was being held in solitary confinement—to be the new prison warden, to the amazement of both prisoners and officials alike.
With ideals and vision, he attempts to reform the prison, with an eye towards prisoner rehabilitation and human rights. He recruits several long-time prisoners, including trustees Larry Lee Bullen (David Keith) and Richard "Dickie" Coombes (Yaphet Kotto), to assist him with the reform. Their combined efforts slowly improve the prison conditions, but his stance enrages several corrupt officials on the prison board who have profited from graft for decades.
When Brubaker discovers multiple unmarked graves on prison property, he attempts to unravel the mystery, leading to political scandal. A trustee decides to make a run for it when he realizes that he might be held accountable for killing an inmate. The resulting gunfight, in which Bullen is killed, proves to be the clincher that the prison board needs (acting with the tacit approval of the governor) to fire Brubaker.
A statement before the credits explains that two years after Brubaker was fired, 24 inmates, led by Coombes, sued the prison. The court ruled that the treatment of the prisoners was unconstitutional and the prison system was ultimately reformed. Meanwhile, the governor was not re-elected.
violence, murder