Wrongfully Convicted

Wrongfully Convicted: Andy Dufresne and Rubin Carter People in prison face many emotional challenges. They are likely to become institutionalized, and unable to function in society outside of the prison. Not all people in prison are even guilty of their crimes. They have been denied a fair trial, and are wrongfully convicted. This causes them much emotional distress. One way that they can get over this distress, as well as get through the time they have to serve in prison, is through a strong friendship which provides companionship and protection. Andy Dufresne from The Shawshank Redemption and Rubin Carter from The Hurricane both react to Institutionalism, wrongful conviction, and friendship very similarly. Rubin Carter from the movie The Hurricane and Andy Dufresne from the movie The Shawshank Redemption treat the subject of Institutionalism in the same manner. Institutionalism is something that happens to people in prison. They grow so accustomed to prison life that they are unable to function in the outside world. It happens when a prisoner gives up hope of leaving the prison. Red from The Shawshank Redemption describes it best when he says, " [The Prison] walls are funny. First, you hate 'em. Then you get used to 'em. 'Nuff time passes, you get so you depend on 'em," (Red (Narration), The Shawshank Redemption). Andy Dufresne refuses to let the walls get to him. He does not let himself get used to prison life and he does not give up hope. "[Andy has] a quiet way about him; A walk and a talk that just [isn't] normal around here. He stroll[s]; Like a man in a park without a care or a worry in the world. Like he [has] on an invisible coat that [will] shield him from this place," (Red (Narration), The Shawshank Redemption). To keep himself busy and his mind off of the effect of the walls, he spends his nineteen years in prison doing various projects: "Prison time is slow time, so you [do] what you can to keep going. Some fellas collect stamps. Others build matchstick houses. Andy built a library... Tommy [is his new project]," (Red (Narration), The Shawshank Redemption). He also spends his time carving chess pieces, and, most importantly, digging his way through the prison wall and, "toting his wall out into the exercise yard, a handful at a time," (Red (Narration), The Shawshank Redemption). This allows him to pass time and keep hope that he will one day leave. Rubin Carter from The Hurricane is quite alike in this sense. He does not let the prison walls get to him either. He believes that "[His] own freedom lies in not wanting or needing anything of which they could deprive [him]," (Rubin Carter (Narration), The Hurricane). By doing this, he makes them unable to punish him, because they can not take anything away from him. He refuses to work in their shops, he does not eat their food, and he does not even leave his cell. "'When the prison is awake, I will sleep. When it sleeps I will wake. I will live neither in the cell nor in my own heart. Only in my mind and my spirit,'" (Rubin Carter, The Hurricane). He does everything in his power not to conform to the prison life. One thing he believes is very important is the ability to transcend. He praises Lezra for transcending from the ghetto to get an education to go to college. He states that, "'It is very important to transcend the places that hold us,'" (Rubin Carter, The Hurricane). By not conforming to the standards of the prison, he is transcending the prison walls in order to not become institutionalized. This common attitude of refusing to become institutionalized is very noticeable between Andy Dufresne from the movie The Shawshank Redemption and Rubin Carter from the movie The Hurricane. Andy Dufresne and Rubin Carter are both wrongfully convicted. In The Shawshank Redemption, Andy is accused of killing his wife and her lover, for whom she has just left Andy on the very same night that she leaves him. He goes to a few bars and drinks a lot, then goes to confront them. He loads his gun and gets out of his car, spilling bullets and dropping his bottle of bourbon. He then changes his mind and goes home, throwing his gun into a river on the way. Based on the fingerprints on the bullets and the bottle, and the fact that the police found no gun in the river, he is convicted. He is innocent of his crime and yet he is forced to serve two life sentences. When the true killer is identified by Tommy, the warden has Tommy killed, because Andy is, "a convicted murderer who provides sound financial planning - a wonderful pet to have," (Andy, The Shawshank Redemption). Andy is forced to serve time for a crime he did not commit. He seems to accept the fact that he has been sent there wrongfully, and says, "'No, I didn't [pull the trigger]. Somebody else did. And I wound up in here. Bad Luck, I guess. It floats around, it's gotta land on somebody. It was my turn, that's all. I was in the path of the tornado. I just didn't expect the storm would last as long as this,'"(Andy, The Shawshank Redemption). Andy serves nineteen years for this crime, and in

nineteen years his youth passed, and when he left he was getting to be an old man, "'they send you here for life. And that's exactly what they take from you. The part that counts, anyway,'"(Red, The Shawshank Redemption). The warden needs him around to launder his dirty money. All the money from the kick backs and the shady deals made in the wardens inside out work program is handled by Andy in such a way that this money is not traceable to the warden. Andy's conviction is not only based on a crime he did not commit, but by convicting him and sending him to Shawshank, the system has turned him into a real criminal, "'On the outside, [he] was an honest man, straight as an arrow. [He] had to come to prison to become a crook,'"(Andy, The Shawshank Redemption). Rubin Carter is also wrongfully convicted, except his conviction is due to racism and a corrupt police force. He is arrested only because he is black. When the police officer who pulls him over tells him that they are looking for two Negroes in a white car, he replies, "'Any two will do?'"(Rubin Carter, The Hurricane). The witnesses to the crime all say that it was not Rubin, but the police convince them to lie, or the witnesses die suddenly, "'my Avery got a good look at those men and it wasn't Rubin Carter. He told the police, he told them and he told them. He even signed a statement for that detective, Delapesca ... He died just before the trial,'"(Louise Cockersham (widow of Avery), The Hurricane). He is not given a fair trial, and racism is present even in the courtroom because the jury is completely white. He expresses his feeling about this when he says, "'I serve my time in a house of justice and yet there is no justice for me.'"(Rubin Carter, The Hurricane). Because of the racist treatment he receives, he begins to think the same way. He finds it difficult at first to trust Lisa, Sam and Terry, and takes their questions as accusations of some sort, and answers them harshly, by saying to them, "'You're damn right none of you can judge what I've been through because you've never been through it. What do you know about doing time? What do you know about what it is to be me? What do you know about being in this place? ... This is too much,'"(Rubin Carter, The Hurricane). He then sends them away. Because of the fact that the racist verdict handed down against him is due to white people, he thinks that, "'everything [he] lost that really mattered, [he] lost at the hands of white people.'"(Rubin Carter, The Hurricane). His conviction causes him to think in the same way that caused him to be put in jail in the first place, and he grows a lot of hate for white people before Sam, Terry, and Lisa came along to help him. His African friend in prison shares a similar attitude, except he tells Rubin about a hobo he once rode the rails with, "'by the name of Alabama. He was white folks, and he was a good man. He saved [his] life three times ... they ain't all bad," (Mobutu (Rubin's African friend), The Hurricane), and so he shows Rubin that all white people are not so bad. The effect of their wrongful conviction is similar between Andy Dufresne and Rubin Carter. Andy Dufresne and Rubin Carter both rely on friendship to get through their time in prison. When Andy Dufresne first comes to Shawshank, he is targeted by the sisters and has no one to protect him from them. I wish I could tell you that Andy fought the good fight and the sisters let him be. I wish I could tell you that, but prison is no fairy tale world. He never said who did it. But we all knew. Things went on like that for a while. Prison life consists of routine. And then more routine. Every so often Andy would show up with fresh bruises. The sisters kept at him. Sometimes he was able to fight them off, and sometimes not. And that's how it went for Andy. That was his routine. I do believe those first two years were the worst for Andy. And I also believe that if things had gone on that way, this place would have got the best of him. (Red (Narration), The Shawshank Redemption) They raped him whenever they could find him alone, and they beat him up. This kept on until he helped Hadley keep an inheritance which he would have otherwise lost to taxes. The next time the sisters tried to rape him, they beat him up really badly. This time, however, Hadley intervened on Andys behalf, "... what they did do is beat him within an inch of his life. Andy spent a month in the infirmary. Boggs spent a week in the hole... Two things never happened again after that day. The sisters never laid a finger on Andy again. And Boggs never walked again,"(Red (Narration), The Shawshank Redemption). Hadley's friendship saved Andy's life. Andy also wants to build a library for the prison because he wants to help inmates get their high school diplomas. He asks the warden if he could mail a letter a week for him to the state senate to request funds to build the library, "'You write your letters if it makes you happy. I'll even mail 'em for ya. How's that?'"( Warden Norton, The Shawshank Redemption). The warden agrees to mail Andy's letters, which helps him with his library project. In exchange for this help, Andy helps the warden launder his dirty money. He tells Red, "'I don't run the scams, Red, I just process the profits. Fine line, maybe but I also built that library and used it to help a dozen guys get their high school diploma. Why do you think the warden lets me do all that?'"(Andy, The Shawshank Redemption) Andy and the warden both help each other out. This helps the time pass for Andy. The most important friendship to Andy is his friendship with Red, who

was Andy's first friend in prison, "Andy kept pretty much to himself at first. I guess he had a lot on his mind, trying to adapt to life on the inside. Wasn't until a month went by that he finally opened his mouth to say more than two words to somebody. As it turns out, that somebody was me," (Red (Narration), The Shawshank Redemption). Andy and Red begin to confide in each other as the years go by, " 'Andy we gettin' to be kind of friends, aren't we?' 'yeah, I guess' 'Can I ask you something? Why'd you do it?'"(Red and Andy, The Shawshank Redemption). They help each other and stand by each other. Before Andy is ready to escape, he tells Red, indirectly where he is going, and tells him how to find him if he ever gets out. He leaves him a letter under an oak tree in a hay field, "'Remember Red: hope is a good thing, And good things never die. I will be hoping that this letter finds you, and finds you well. Your friend, Andy,'" (Andy, The Shawshank Redemption). He tells Red to find him in Mexico so they can run Andy's hotel together. Red does find Andy, and the movie ends with an emotional shot of the happy reunion that brings them together for the first time outside prison walls. Rubin Carter also relies on friendship to endure his time in prison and, ultimately, to set him free. He becomes friends with the prison guard early. When he refuses to wear prison clothes with a number on them, the guard tells him that he will get him, "'a pair of pyjamas from the prison hospital. As far as [the guard] is concerned, [Rubin would] be wearing prison issue clothing.'"(Mr. Williams (The guard), The Hurricane). The guard helps make Rubin's time in prison more bearable. He brings him canned soup instead of making him eat the prison food which Rubin refuses to eat. He also helps Rubin out by telling Rubin how he can keep his manuscript safe while they are tossing his cell. Rubin does not want to lose the manuscript because he thinks that it is the only thing that will get him out of prison, "'what if that manuscript wasn't in this cell when we tossed it? What if it was stuffed in your pants or something, stuffed in your crotch and we couldn't see it? I could make sure you aren't stripsearched ... you have my word,'"(Mr. Williams, The Hurricane). The guard helps Rubin maintain his dignity while in prison. John Artis is also a good friend to Rubin. He is in the car with Rubin when he is pulled over. He later expresses his feelings about John Artis when he says, "'He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve any of it. All he had to do was lie and say I killed those people and they would have let him out and his nightmare would have been over. Most men couldn't have stood up to that kind of torture. But John Artis did. The man is my Hero,'"(Rubin Carter, The Shawshank Redemption). He has a chance to be free, and all it would take would be to turn Rubin in. He does not, and he is sentenced to three life sentences just like Rubin. He was only a fan of Rubin's catching a ride home from the Night Spot that night, and he ends up spending a big part of his life in prison. He is more than a friend to Rubin; he is his hero. Lezra, Lisa, Sam and Terry are very good friends to Rubin. After Lezra reads Rubin's book, The Sixteenth Round, and goes to visit him, they start to become good friends. Lezra feels a connection with Rubin. After his appeal is denied, Rubin tries to distance himself from them. But he can not do it, and Lezra, Lisa, Sam and Terry end up moving down to New Jersey to try and help out his appeal. They investigate all the facts in the case. They take time away from their work and their home and refuse to leave; even when Rubin's lawyers tell them that it is hopeless. They tell them, 'There have been a lot of people, great people, all well intentioned ... a lot of brave people who gave their time, and to some degree, risked their reputation before you. People come and go and frankly nobody lasts. Nobody stays the course. Nobody goes the distance because it's too tough, it's too slow and it's heartbreaking. It's too heartbreaking.' (Leon Friedman (Rubin's Lawyer), The Hurricane). Even after hearing this, they do not lose faith in him and they show him that not all white people are bad. They are to him what the hobo was to his friend in prison, and a whole lot more. He wants to transcend the law, go above it, and in a way, he does this through Lezra, Lisa, Sam and Terry. They transcend the law that put him in prison by setting him free. He tells Lezra that, "'Hate put [him] in prison. Love's gonna bust [him] out,'"(Rubin Carter, The Hurricane). and that he appreciates all that they have done for him, because there is not many people who are willing to sacrifice as much as they have for one mans sake. Until they came to him, he was very depressed, but they showed him happiness, "'When you came to me it was like the day had started off without the sun; it was dim and it was cool. Suddenly and without warning the sunshine breaks the clouds and lights up everything,'"(Rubin Carter, The Hurricane). They give him renewed hope while he is in prison. Both Rubin Carter and Andy Dufresne rely on friendship to get them through their time in prison. Andy Dufresne from The Shawshank Redemption and Rubin Carter from The Hurricane both have different experiences while in prison, but their reactions to institutionalism, wrongful conviction, and friendship are very similar. They are both wrongfully convicted, and they both refuse to conform to prison

life, and they rely on the power of friendship to get through their time in prison. Andy Dufresne and Rubin Carter are both excellent examples of how the mind can overcome any situation, no matter how bad. Bibliography The Hurricane. Dir. Norman Jewison. Perf. Denzel Washington, Vicellous Reon Shannon, Deborah Unger, Lev Schreiber and John Hannah. Universal/MCA, 2000. The Shawshank Redemption. Dir. Frank Darabont. Perf. Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler. Warner Home Video, 1994.