Eleventh Grade - Shawshank Redemption

Shawshank Redemption

The eighth amendment states that the cruel and unusual punishment clause prevents severe punishments from the state and federal government. It also bans excessive bail to be given to anybody. In the movie Shawshank Redemption, most of the characters treatment violates the 8th amendment. Two of the characters that are examples of this are known as Andy and Brooks. Although not both of them were treated horribly, everything that happened in jail led up to the way they acted for rest of their life. Throughout the entire movie there are examples of whether or not the Shawshank warden and prison guards followed the “New York” system. It could go both ways but there are many more examples proving that they do.

The main character of the movie, Andy, was put in prison for a crime he did not commit. He was found guilty for the murder of his wife and the person she was sleeping with, but he was innocent. The first few days he was in jail he was beaten and raped for no reason by other prisoners. The guards knew about it but the didn’t stop it. This just shows how the 8th amendment was not followed in Shawshank. Also, when he had found evidence that could get him out of jail, he was put in solitary confinement for two months. The new guy, Tommy, who held the evidence was immediately murdered by the owner of the prison because he was a threat to Andy’s release. Today anybody who has evidence that proves they did not commit their crime gets to go to court. Instead of following the rules, the owner decided to destroy any evidence they could find.

Compared to everyone else in the jail, Brooks was treated like royalty. He had many advantages, such as working in the prison library. He was in charge of many different things and he wasn’t locked in his cell all day long like the rest of them were. He handed out books to the inmates at night, mostly bibles. He also helped people get illegal materials around the prison, like the rock pick Andy got that dug him out of there. He was always around people and it wasn’t fair to everyone else who dealt with the cruelty. But when he was let out of jail he did something that no one expected him to do. He was in jail for a crime that he didn’t commit for practically his entire life. When he was freed, he had no one; no family, friends, or relatives. He was so lonely he didn’t even want to live. So he committed suicide and hung himself. He may have never been tortured in jail but he was tortured when he was let out because of what happened throughout his stay.

For the most part the Shawshank warden and prison guards followed the New York system. This system states that the prisoners must be worked very hard by keeping them busy. They also have to read the Bible every day and apologize for the sins they made. Most of the time the prison followed this but there were experiences when they didn’t. For example, the system says that if there is any new evidence found the person deserves another trial. In Shawshank when they found more evidence, the person was murdered. The New York system was more specific than Shawshank was. New York had precise rules that had to be followed and Shawshank did not. All they had to do was what the guards told them. There was never a set schedule that every one had to get done. For the most part they followed the system but only in certain ways.

Overall, Shawshanks punishments were not fair for any human. They did not follow the eighth amendment to the best of their ability. They abused many of the inmates for no reason and almost every person in the jail was innocent and in there for a crime they did not commit. Andy and Brooks were only two examples of the violations of the amendment. Throughout the movie, there were many more characters who were treated in an unfair way. In my opinion, the prison was not fair at all and the people should have been treated with more respect than they were. Even though someone's in prison doesn’t mean they should lose every single right they have as a human being.