The Novel ' The Green Mile '

Jumping back into the past, Gregory Orr tells the incident when he and a group of five hundred of men, women, teenagers, and old folks assemble in Jackson, Mississippi. In Jackson for a peaceful demonstration, Gregory Orr and the rest of the group were arrested and taken away “to the county fairgrounds” (128, 1). Where they was beaten by officers of the law, Orr stated, “I emerged into the outdoors and the bright sunlight and saw them-two lines of about fifteen highway patrolmen on either side. I was ordered to walk, not run, between them. Again I was beaten with nightsticks, but this time more thoroughly, as I was the only target” (129, 2). Once freed from his captors, Gregory Orr gets in his car to head back north, but on his way back he was pulled over by flashing lights. Thinking it was the police; Gregory Orr pulled over and was approached by two white men. One of the white men said, “Get out, you son of a bitch, or I’ll blow your head off” (133, 3). The two white men takes Gregory Orr’s wallet and tell him to follow them, Scared for his life, Gregory Orr did exactly what the two men told him to do. After following the two men, Gregory Orr is back in jail in Hayneville. “Already depressed and disoriented by the ten days in jail in Jackson, I was even more frightened in Hayneville,” (136, 1) stated by Gregory Orr.

The relief was brought about by the reconciliatory act of disbanding the mock imprisonment early. Sadie F. Dingfielder, a writer for Monitor on Psychology, writes an overview of many psychological reports over the ‘Redemptive Sequence’. In her article, it is lain out that people who speak of a meaningful episode in their lives in a ‘Redemptive Sequence’, a story of where bad events lead to positive outcomes, tend to be happier (Dingfielder 42). In the case of the Stanford Prison Experiment, this pattern would be seen as the mistreatment being the bad event and the early release as the positive outcome. Also seen in “A Few Good Men,” Markinson was a part of the negative event, covering up the Code Red, and sought after a positive outcome in assisting the case on the side of the defense. In the very least, reconciliation can be derived in the display of grief at the loss of a positive outcome Dingfielder speaks of. In “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You”, Dalrymple explained a personal experience with regret stemming from actions out of obedience. Through the writing, it can be logically inferred that the author was grieving this experience with the situation being prominent enough to remember such events. The lack of action to comfort those patients under his care pushed Dalrymple into this grief. Gilovich and Medvec addressed in their article, “The experience of regret: When, when, and why,”

      "They sentence you to death because you were at the wrong place at the wrong time, with no proof that you had anything at all to do with the crime other than being there when it happened. Yet six months later they come and unlock your cage and tell you, We, us, white folks all, have decided it’s time for you to die, because this is the convenient date and time" (158). Ernest J. Gaines shows the internal conflicts going through the mind of Mr. Wiggins in his novel A Lesson Before Dying (1933). Mr. Wiggins is struggling through life and can’t find his way until he is called upon against his own will to help an innocent man, Jefferson. The help is not that of freeing him at all.

Inmates at Shawshank were often beat within an inch of their lives by the administration at Shawshank in order to instill a sense of obedience and to keep enforcing routine. Head Guard Captain Hadley would on occasion hurt the prisoners so much they would die of injury’s they sustained from him. “Black man, white man, red man, yellow man, it doesn’t matter because we’ve got our own brand of equality. In Prison every con’s a nigger and you have to get used to the idea if you intend to survive men like Hadley and Greg Stammas who really would kill you just as soon as look at you. When you’re in stir you belong to the state and if you forget it woe is you. I’ve known men who have lost eyes, men who have lost toes, Men who have lost fingers, I knew a man who lost the tip of his penis and counted himself lucky” (44) this shows the lack of moral judgment

Have you ever been too filled with hate and pride to see the obvious truth right in front of you? The year was 1935 in the small town of Maycomb Alabama. During this time an important trial would be taking place. The trial of Tom Robinson, an African and American who had been promptly accused of rape by the one man who had seen the incident. Bob Ewell a despised person throughout the community and the father of the victim, Mayella Ewell, Bob’s abused, lonely, unhappy daughter. Though one can pity Mayella because of her overbearing father, one cannot pardon her for her shameful indictment of Tom Robinson.

Specifically, the treatment of the many prisoners at the hands of the guards had really stood out to me. How handcuffs, leg-irons, strip searches, and comments such as “spread’m, Tonto” had become his day to day routine. In just a small section of the book, he shows the attitude that many guards take when dealing with people they are arresting or who are already incarcerated. They disrespect the inmates, not because they have to, but almost because they want to.

The following poster was designed by Noah Van Belle to explore the deeper meaning, found in the film The Shawshank Redemption, in just a single and simplistic image. The primary image, which is a rock hammer, represents the motifs of friendship and hope that is displayed throughout the film. The rock hammer is the first item that Andy, the protagonist, obtains from Red, who is also an inmate. This exchange between Red and Andy is the spark of their strong friendship. This friendship proved to be beneficial to Andy not only because he was able to obtain the resources, that he needed for his escape, from Red but he also had a partner to keep him from going insane, in a brutal place such as Shawshank. Red also benefited tremendously from his friendship

In this paper, I will summarize part 3 “Why Do Prison Conditions Matter?” and part 4 “Contemporary Lessons from Maconochie’s Experiment” of Maconochie’s Gentlemen, written by Norval Morris (Morris, 2002). I will then provide a critical analysis of Maconochie and the Norfolk Island Prison reform story to current correctional practices.

John Williams was recently incarcerated for the violent murder of three young women. Prior to his arrest, police were on edge because the small town in Arkansas had never experienced anything like that before. Each girl was taken within a week from each other, all while they were out after dark taking a short cut home. Sadly they were all found buried deep in the woods after weeks of searching. The town went into shock; citizens were exhibiting both fear and rage for the loss of the precious girls from their community.

The distressing experience of operating as a prison guard in such a notorious penal facility as New York State’s Sing Sing Penitentiary is one that is unlikely to be desired by one not professionally committed to the execution of prison uniformity. However, the outstanding novel written by Tom Conover illustrates the encounters of a journalist who voluntarily plunged himself into the obscure universe of the men and women paid to spend the better portion of their lives behind prison barriers. In Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, Conover creates a noteworthy document resonating personal emotional occurrences that nonetheless suggest the cultural sensitivity of a true prison guard. From the standpoint of our studies

Newjack is Ted Conover’s personal memoir as a correctional officer in one of New York’s famous maximum security prisons: Sing Sing. The job of a correctional officer consists of long days locking and unlocking cells, moving prisoners to and from various locations while the prisoners beg, aggravate and abuse them. After a short time at the academy and a brief period of on-the-job training, Conover found himself working, often alone and always unarmed, in galleries housing sixty or more inmates. He heard of many stories that happen in prison. Stories include inmates beating inmates and burning their cell house, an inmate who was beaten by correctional officers after striking an officer in the head with a broom

After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests.

In the case of the California’s Corcoran State Prison the prisoners were being mistreated. The situation that brought this case to the forefront was Dryburgh (2009) found that “Preston Tate was shot and fatally wounded by a corrections officer after Tate and his cellmate fought against two rival Hispanic gang member. Tate death was at the hands of a prison guard prompted two whistle – blowers to approach the FBI with tales of abuse and brutality toward inmates by correction officers”. Moreover, this was not the first time that an inmate had been shot by a correctional officer.

Twenty-three years ago, convict Jack Taylor told me his story while I sat in my office on unit 10-B one evening. Two days ago, I decided to check and see if any of his story was true. To my surprise, most of it was. Here is that story.

Set on Death Row in a Southern prison in 1935, The Green Mile is the remarkable story of the cell block's head guard, who develops an emotional, and unusual relationship with one inmate who possesses a magical gift that is both mysterious and miraculous. This inmate is John Coffey, who beyond his simple naive nature possess a supernatural gift. This gift is what introduces the correlation between Coffey and Jesus Christ.