Shawshank Redemption Analysis

Imagine someone close that’s lived the straight and narrow to get where they are at. They are not perfect, maybe they could have put a little more time into their assignment at work or held their temper towards the grandpa driving too slow in front of them, but they’re just human living life the best way they know how. When a not-so-freak accident occurs and they find themselves behind bars imprisoned for the rest of their life. Sounds like the plot to “Shawshank Redemption” right? At this very instance, this story is being told of ordinary citizens behind the curtains of the New York Court System in rapidly increasing numbers. What may seem like an isolated incident is part of an ever-growing

The movie the Shawshank Redemption, based on the book by Steven King, I believe is one of the best movies ever made. The portrayal of prison life in the movie is the best I have seen and a star-studded cast including Morgan Freeman supports the characters and brings to life the everyday struggles of life behind bars. In this paper I will relate topics from class to the movie and discuss information we have learned through out the semester.

knowing that Andy is vulnerable, gets him on the tar duty and seems to take him

Corrections have existed throughout society for many years and continued to change and evolve in the United States reflecting society’s values and ideals throughout the centuries. In the criminal justice system, corrections exist in more than one form. Not only do corrections refer to jails and prison systems but they also pertain to community-based programs, such as probation, parole, halfway houses, and treatment facilities. Past, present, and future trends in regard to the development and operation of institutional and community-based corrections vary between states but corrections have grown immensely since the early 1800s and have continued to expand

Society has often struggled with how to help prisoners once they are released back into civilization. The number of prisoners in the American prison population has grown considerably in the last couple of decades. For many prisoners the process of arrest, incarceration and release is a continuous cycle, there is very little hope of them living in civilization for a long period of time. There is also a high a retention rate of the returning offenders. A large portion of these prisoners are minorities of African Americans and Hispanics face more time in jail or prison is extremely high. The success rate of offenders is measured by how long one can avoid being incarcerated and not by being reintegrated into civilization. These issues have become a national crisis in Joan Petersilia book titled “When Prisoners come home: Parole and prisoner reentry,” she address these issues head on. The main purpose of this book focuses on how to help prisoners once they have been released out of prison. Petersilia gives efforts for future reform to alter the in prison experience, change prison release, revocation practices, revise post prison services and supervision as well as a working with the community to enhance informal social control. These are efforts that represent a better policy towards reform of prisoners and re-entry in the system. The book goes into great detail about the suggestions Petersilia makes and why it is necessary for change.

You can be imprisoned physically, but mentally you’re free. Andy was in prison and his freedom was taken away from him, but he didn’t let that imprison his mind and thoughts. It’s like when Andy was walking in the yard as if he was walking in a party, as Norton told him. Andy was always “wearing” his freedom. He never built up a jail mindset and his eyes never got that dull look in them. A symbol is something which has a meaning beyond itself. In The Shawshank Redemption, Stephen King brought up freedom in several different ways. Freedom is symbolized in the book pin-ups, rock sculptures, and Jake.

1. A degradation ceremony is a ceremony in which people are stripped of their personal identities and thrown into a brand new situation; something that they have not experienced before. An example of this from the movie was when the men first arrived at Shawshank Prison at the beginning of the movie. As they were walking in, they were surrounded by the “experienced” convicts and teased. They were then stripped naked, covered in powder to make sure they did not have lice, and then forced to walk throughout the prison with everyone staring at them. No one should have to go through this, the act was humiliating enough. This degradation ceremony was like a welcoming to the new convicted felons, and

dark suit. We next see him on the bus. The camera is set in front of

While many movies have depicted various areas of the criminal justice system, the Shawshank Redemption is like no other. I first watched the film many years ago on television and since have seen it numerous times on platforms such as DVD and Netflix. The key stars in the production, are actors Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. Other standouts that who are featured in supporting roles included actors Bob Gunton and Clancy Brown. The film was directed by Frank Darabont who is known for criminal justice films such as the Green Mile. The Shawshank Redemption was first released in theaters September of 1994.

Red talks about how he has a habit of going to the restroom twenty five after the hour and asking his boss. Despite the fact that he no longer needs to ask for permission it’s something he is used to. Red talks about how he thinks of committing a crime just to go to prison where he feels safe. The fact that he doesn’t feel safe outside is saying something that long term prison sentences affects the individual to a point where prison is all they

In the film The Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont the purpose of the beginning sequence is to introduce us to Andy Dufresne and his situation; being accused of the murder of his wife and her lover. This sequence uses lighting, music, sound and camera work to show us Andy’s struggle.

“The history of correctional thought and practice has been marked by enthusiasm for new approaches, disillusionment with these approaches, and then substitution of yet other tactics”(Clear 59). During the mid 1900s, many changes came about for the system of corrections in America. Once a new idea goes sour, a new one replaces it. Prisons shifted their focus from the punishment of offenders to the rehabilitation of offenders, then to the reentry into society, and back to incarceration. As times and the needs of the criminal justice system changed, new prison models were organized in hopes of lowering the crime rates in America. The three major models of prisons that were developed were the medical, model, the community model, and the crime

The film “The Shawshank Redemption” directed by Frank Darabont is set in Maine. This film is about a young successful banker named Andy Dufresne who is wrongfully convicted of killing his wife and her lover and is sentenced to a double life in prison. Andy ends up becoming an inmate in Shawshank prison where he learns about the unpleasantness and brutality of prison life. Andy holds on to his dreams and his hope and along the way he befriends a couple of his fellow inmates, and one of them was a black market salesmen who has been in prison for a long time called Red. After a few years Andy finds a way to live out his sentence with as much ease as he possibly can by offering his banking knowledge and expertise to the guards and to the warden at Shawshank prison.

In the Film Shawshank Redemption (1994) directed by Frank Darabont, Andy was wrongfully convicted of killing his wife and is shipped off to Shawshank prison. The prison is run by Warden Norton who is a corrupt leader. When Andy first arrives at the prison he is very timid and shy. As the film progresses, Andy breaks out of his shell and starts building relationships with Red and the other prisoners. Throughout the film we learn that Andy is an ex banker who Norton enlist to help him with his taxes and balancing the books. Soon enough Andy realizes that Norton was laundering money. The movie displays many of the concepts that we have learned throughout Organizational Behavior textbook written by Cohen Et Al. Throughout the paper I will be talking about how Shawshank Redemption relates to the concepts we have learned in the textbook specifically in chapter 8 and 10.

His skills helped him gain the trust and popularity from both Mr. Warden and his inmates. He is calm and cool in behavior that made him likable. He is loyal as he made sure he kept the promise he made to his friend Red. Andy has high external as he is educated and had a high position in a bank. On the other hand, Red has been in prison for his entire adult life which resulted in a change of personal system. He doesn’t think of life after prison. He has been “institutionalized “. He has become dependent on the required system that he doesn’t think he can survive after prison. The word institutionalized as described by Red is the process by which prisoners first hate the prison then gets used to it that finally, even their lives depend on it. (Movie). Red is also the guy that can get you anything. He sells “cigarettes, a bag of resources and a bottle of brandy” which resulted in high power and respect from his inmates. He values the life he has in prison than anything else. I believe this is because it has been a long time since he was out to see the world. He has already adjusted his behavior and way of life in regards to the required system of the prison. The rest of the prisoner’s personal system lies between these two.