Murder in the First

Year: 1995

Country: USA, France

Tagline: One was condemned. The other was determined. Two men whose friendship gave them the will to take on the system.  »

Plot: Henri Young stole five dollars from a post office and ended up going to prison - to the most famous, or infamous, prison of them all: Alcatraz. He tried to escape, failed, and spent three years and two months in solitary confinement - in a dungeon, with no light, no heat and no toilet. Milton Glenn, the assistant warden, who was given free reign by his duty-shirking superior, was responsible for Young's treatment. Glenn even took a straight razor and hobbled Young for life. After three years and two months, Young was taken out of solitary confinement and put with the rest of the prisoners. Almost immediately, Young took a spoon and stabbed a fellow prisoner in the neck, killing him. Now, Young is on trial for murder, and if he's convicted he'll go to the gas chamber. An eager and idealistic young attorney, James Stamphill, is given this impossible case, and argues before a shocked courtroom that Young had a co-conspirator. The true murderer, he says, was Alcatraz.Henry, a small-time criminal sent to Alcatraz, is caught attempting to escape and as punishment, he's put in solitary confinement. After being taken out of it, almost immediately, Young took a spoon and stabbed a fellow prisoner in the neck, killing him. Now, it's a rookie lawyer who proves Alcatraz is to blame, and that Henry should not be executed.

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