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ShawShank Redemption: Ethical Dilemmas and Systems CRJ 313 Eastern Kentucky University Kyler Law The 1994 movie Shawshank Redemption tells a story of Andy Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, a successful investment banker turned convicted felon who received a life sentence in prison at Shawshank Prison for murdering his wife and her lover. The co-main character is the character Ellis “Red” Redding who was also convicted of a murder that he did in fact commit at a young age. The film is based on a novel written by Stephen King. The movie shows more than just show what life in prison is like. It highlights several ethical issues that remain in the criminal justice system even today as well as touch on different criminal ethics topics from ethical systems to rehabilitation and institutionalism in the corrections department of criminal justice. When Andy arrives at Shawshank prison he begins to impress many prisoners almost instantly. One of the inmates he impressed was contraband smuggler Ellis “Red” Redding. Andy became friends with Red, who was also incarcerated for murder. Andy asked Red to get him a rock hammer for sculpting chess pieces and a large poster of Rita Hayworth. Andy soon learned what prison was really like when he came into contact with the prison gang. Andy drew the attention of the prison gang known as the “Sisters”, whose leader, Boggs, uses Andy as his own personal sex toy. After a couple of years in prison, Andy overhears the correction officer, Hadley, complaining about his taxes. Andy approached the prison guard, but came off as insulting about the Captains wife, Captain Hadley grabbed Andy by his collar and drug him to the edge of the roof to throw him off of it so that Andy’s death would look like a suicide but Andy quickly explained that Hadley could keep all of the 35 thousand without being taxed, legally, in exchange for 3 beers a piece for everyone working with Andy. After helping the guard Andy was the victim of a vicious attack by the “Sisters”, Hadley severely beats Boggs resulting in the prison rapist being sent to another prison. Andy is now protected and is not attacked again. Hadley beating Boggs is just one example of the excessive force used in the film. Hadley runs the prison and maintains power through the spread of fear and intimidation. In the beginning of the film Hadley even beat a man so bad that his brain swelled up, resulting in death just because of a mental breakdown of adjusting to prison life. The head guard, Hadley, is not even the worst corrupt law enforcement official in the Shawshank prison. Warden Samuel Norton saw potential in Andy as a financial advisor to cover up some illegal activities such as money laundering that the warden participates in. In the mid 60’s, an inmate named Tommy Williams informed Andy that a prisoner elsewhere had admitted to committing a murder identical to that in which Andy was arrested for. Thus, suggesting that Andy was in fact not guilty of killing his wife and her lover. Andy attempted to approach warden Norton with this newfound evidence, but the warden refused to listen to Andy’s reasoning. The Warden placed Andy in solitary for over two months in an attempt to teach Any a lesson. What he did to Tommy was much worse. The warden had his right-hand man, Hadley, shoot and kill Tommy disguised as Tommy trying to escape from prison. The warden had Tommy killed just to protect his own personal interests which not only caused a life to be take, but also an innocent man from being rightfully released from prison. After the ordeal with Tommy being murdered, and himself spending two months in isolation, Andy refused to continue with the warden’s illegal activities. Norton threatened to destroy the library and take away Andy’s protection and special treatment if he did not continue to assist the warden in his illegal scheme. During the roll call one of the following days, Andy’s cell was found empty by guards. The warden acted in anger by throwing a rock at the poster hanging on the wall that revealed the tunnel that Andy spent two decades digging. Andy escaped through the prison’s sewage pipe system with Norton’s ledger, which contained details of the money laundering being done by the warden. guards searched for Andy the following morning. Andy, posing as the fictitious Randall Stephens, went to various banks withdrawing the money that he had been helping the Warden launder over the last several years. Andy had one last trick up his sleeve before he headed south to Mexico. He sent the ledger and evidence of the corruption and murders at Shawshank to a local newspaper. The police arrived at the prison, taking captain Hadley into custody, and finding that the warden had committed suicide. There were a few different ethical systems present in the film stemming from various characters. The protagonist of the film, Andy, exhibited ethics of care throughout the movie. Andy made relationships with nearly everyone in the film. He cared about what others were going through and tried his best to help. From helping Captain Hadley with the inheritance money, to helping the warden launder money.  “On the outside I was an honest man, straight as an arrow, I had to come to prison to become a crook.” He met the needs for others doing those activities by getting beer and respect for helping Hadley and from being able to maintain a functional library for helping the warden. He also wrote letters to the state which resulted in getting five hundred dollars annually for the library as well as the letters that got another inmate approved for parole. The library was a big turning point for all the inmates because it helped several of the receive their GEDs while in prison. He even left one thousand dollars as a gift for Red once he was released from prison to help Red make his was to Mexico. Andy was a good-hearted person that tried to help everyone he could for the better which is why he exhibited ethics of care. There were also some examples of utilitarianism in the movie. Utilitarianism is defined as the best outcome for the greatest number of people, or society. The letter that Andy wrote to the local paper was a utilitarian act. By whistleblowing to the media, Andy helped get rid of the “rotten barrel” corruption at the Shawshank prison. Getting rid of the warden and the prison guard captain provided the most good for inmates at the establishment. They no longer had to live in fear for their lives from corrupt authority figures. The letters also benefited the community surrounding the prison because of all the dirty money that the warden was laundering. Tommy speaking up about Andy’s innocence can be labeled as utilitarianism as well from a certain point of view. If Andy would have been released from prison because of the information given by Tommy, the taxpayers of the community would have save some money on taxes instead of paying for an innocent man to be incarcerated. Egoism is the most obvious ethical system in the film. Both high-ranking officials in the prison display signs of egoism. Egoism is taking caring only for your self-interests. The warden only cared about his illegal money racket. No matter the cost, he only cared about his personal financial gain, even when it meant taking Tommy’s life and keeping an innocent man behind bars just to protect his illegal actions. Hadley acted egotistic because he too only cared for himself. The only reason that he did not murder Andy was because Andy could prevent him from having to pay taxes on the money that he inherited from his brother. Boggs gang acted in egotism but for a different self-interest. The law enforcement workers worked for money, Boggs acted for sexual pleasure, leaving Andy as the victim. Ethical formalism has its own place in this film for the small fact that Andy did not use ethical formalism in decision making. Ethical formalism is an absolutist system, so what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong. If Andy believed in that system, then he would not have kept helping the warden launder money in exchange for protection from the sisters’ gang and special treatment. He also would have never spoke up to captain Hadley about helping him not pay taxes in exchange for beer and respect. However, these actions did fall into the teleological ethical system. Andy did not think that he was doing anything wrong because theological decisions focus on the consequences of the action rather than the action itself. Andy knew the consequences of disrespecting Hadley’s wife, but he knew the outcome of the situation would be positive so therefore his decision was morally sound. The film has several themes included in the plot. One of the most obvious themes when talking about prison is institutionalization. The movie shows a good perspective on just how brutal prison life can be, especially when there is no respect flow between the inmates and the correctional officers. Everyone knows that prison is not a vacation, but rather a punishment. The prisoners of Shawshank were immediately thrown into an inmate subculture upon arrival. The guards immediately picked one of the “fresh fish” (new inmates) to mentally break. The culture shock, and abuse led to an inmate’s untimely death. Every inmate faced several forms of institutionalization on a daily basis. The prisoners wore pale blue uniforms and had the same daily routine so long as they remained prisoners. In the movie, Red is quoted saying “same shit, different day.” Brooks shows the best example of being institutionalized in Shawshank Redemption. Being imprisoned for fifty years is more than enough time to conform any person. During his fifty years in prison, Brooks forgot every other way of living. He was so terrified of leaving prison that he almost killed a fellow inmate just, so his parole would not be approved. The change from being in prison for fifty years to becoming a free man was too much for Brooks to handle. He had freedom, but he was out of place. He was no longer the prison librarian that had defined him for decades, he was just a “rehabilitated” citizen. He could not handle the chance from his institutional life to his newfound freedom which resulted in him committing suicide by hanging himself. Andy played against the institutionalization theme. He refused to become like everyone else in the prison. He had hopes and dreams of being a free man once more and living out his life in Mexico. Andy said, “get busy living, or get busy dying.” He then referred to the other inmates that had given up on regaining their freedom. In other words, Andy refused to become institutionalized like everyone else serving time in Shawshank. Andy had no plans of giving up his hope and dreams. Shawshank Redemption is an excellent film when studying criminal justice, corrections, or criminal ethics. The movie shows the harsh reality of what prison life can be like in the United States of America. The movie displays many different ethical systems from utilitarianism to ethics of care. The character development shows different adaptations to being stripped of basic human rights to become institutionalized like domesticated animals. The film does an amazing job at showing the myth behind rehabilitation being natural after being released from jail and remains a good learning lesson for anyone interested in any form of criminal justice. In the end Andy received his freedom, without losing hope. Red was paroled. The rotten barrel was cleaned with the captain being arrested and the warden committing suicide. References Ethical Dilemmas. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://valeriegyukery.weebly.com/ethical-dilemmas.html Myers, S. (2016, March 28). Movie Analysis: "The Shawshank Redemption" – Go Into The Story. Retrieved from https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/movie-analysis-the-shawshank-redemption-3abed452460e