Original subtitles

[static drones]

[bright tone]

[tense jazzy music]

♪ ♪

"Oz."

That's the name on the street

for the Oswald Maximum Security Penitentiary.

[gate buzzes]

Oz is retro. Oz is retribution.

You wanna punish a man?

Separate him from his family.

Separate him from himself.

Cage him up with his own kind.

[blade pierces flesh]

- [groans] - [shouting]

[gate buzzes] - Down, down, get down!

[guards shouting]

- No, no!

[men shouting]

- Oz is hard times doing hard time.

- McManus, don't you ever knock?

- I've been through the files

of all the inmates who arrived today.

I want Tobias Beecher... - Okay.

- Miguel Alvarez.

- Well, that'll be tough. He's in the hospital,

stab wound to the chest.

- He gonna live?

- Apparently.

- Fuck you, Healy. - All right.

- Shut the fuck up, asshole, before I come in there...

Hey, Warden.

- Hello, Mike.

- And I want Donald Groves.

- Groves? - Yeah.

- [scoffs] Let me ask you something,

McManus, and don't take this the wrong way, but--

- What? - Are you out of

your fucking mind?

Groves is a demented sociopath

without a skoosh of remorse.

- Well, maybe.

- He ate his parents.

He killed 'em, carved 'em up, and he ate them.

What the fuck do you think you can do with him?

- I'm gonna teach him table manners.

- Listen, the only thing a guy like that understands

is punishment, hard and swift.

- Mm-hmm.

- Hey, Warden, come here and lick me!

Have a fucking nice day, you piece of shit.

- Leo, you said it yourself,

our first conversation:

all we do is recycle!

- Hey, Warden, I need to talk to you.

- Later, Johnson, later. - Yeah, later.

- I mean, an inmate comes in, we sit on him,

send him back out, he's back with a vengeance.

And if we don't do something different...

- Come back here, Warden, aah! - We don't do something radical

right now, we're never gonna break the chain.

- Listen, Groves isn't going out.

He's here till God drop-kicks him to hell.

- Do I have to call the commissioner on this one?

- [sighs] - I was given total autonomy

to run Cell Block Five my way.

- Fine. Take Groves.

- Thank you.

- And Paul Markstram.

- Markstram? He's a petty drug dealer,

and I got enough petty drug dealers.

- You want Groves, you take Markstram.

- Why...? - Warden,

I need to talk to you, man. - Why?

- Just give me five minutes. - [sighs]

He's my cousin.

- Timmy McManus...

he created an experimental unit

inside Oz,

a new approach to the prison problem.

Some people call it "Emerald City."

To me, it's a concentration camp.

- In Emerald City, we got rules.

We got a lot more rules than anywhere else in Oz.

Your cell is your home.

Keep it clean, spotless.

You are to exercise regularly,

attend classes,

go to drug and alcohol counseling.

You are to work in one of the prison factories.

You are to follow the routine.

We tell you when to sleep,

when to eat,

when to piss.

There is no yelling,

no fighting, no fucking.

You follow the rules,

learn self-discipline.

'cause if you'd had any self-discipline,

any control over yourself at all,

you wouldn't be sitting here now.

Questions?

- Yeah. Can I go to the bathroom?

[gate buzzes] - Suck it in, tough guy.

Okay, these are your sponsors.

They will help you get used to the routine.

- I don't want any fucking sponsors.

I don't want any fucking routine.

- Shut up, Groves.

- Hi, I'm Bob Rebadow.

Nice to meet you, too.

- Paul Markstram, Jefferson Keane.

- Yo.

- Tobias Beecher, Dino Ortolani.

- Do I really have to do this ?

- Cut the shit, it's your turn.

- Hello.

- Beecher, huh?

I'm guessin' you ain't Italian.

What are you in for?

Shaving strokes off your golf score?

- Prisoner number 9-7-B-4-1-2,

Tobias Beecher.

[tires screeching]

[dark music]

♪ ♪

Convicted July 5th, '97, driving while intoxicated.

Vehicular manslaughter.

Sentenced to 15 years, up for parole in four.

In Oz,

the guards lock the cages and walk away.

Then the predators rise,

take control, make the rules.

[indistinct chatter, laughter]

But in Em City,

the guards are with us 24 hours a day.

There's no privacy.

Everybody sees what everybody's doing.

Eyes are everywhere...

McManus's eyes.

You see, in Em City, retribution gives way

to redemption.

Timmy Boy believes he can save every one of us,

from each other, from ourselves,

from the system that dumped us in here.

Only thing he don't get is,

you gotta wanna be saved.

- Hey, Dino, how you doin'?

- Hey, look, pal,

I know I'm supposed to be some kind of bro.

The headline reads:

"I don't give a shit about you."

- That's fine, Dino, okay.

- Hey.

Let me give you a slice of advice.

- Mm-hmm. - Get yourself a weapon.

Anyone tries to fuck with you,

take 'em out.

- [laughs softly]

Anything else?

- Yeah.

Don't smile. Ever.

- Dino, telephone.

What are you lookin' at?

- [laughs]

- Yo, you got a code for the phone, man?

- MCI.

- What's the number?

- Hey, Ginny, how you doing, baby?

- 2-4-6... - Yeah, baby,

I miss you, too.

- Get out the line.

- Are the kids around?

- I could've sworn I seen the motherfucker in my cell,

going through my personal effects.

He fingers fingering my cigarettes,

came out like nothing was happening,

whistling he tune!

So I mushed his ass like, move, motherfucker, make room!

Hey!

Ain't that my cigarette hanging off the tip of your lip?

I ain't even give him a chance for he confession,

just leveled his ass with all that aggression!

Lefts, rights, to the do-lex, ha-ha, ha!

Foots to the chest, uppercuts to the grill!

I'm like, kill, he's like, chill!

Take that for--for me even being in this place!

Take that for that fucking C.O. baton across my face!

Feel that for that lawyer

who ain't give two fucks about me,

and feel this, feel this!

For me being enslaved by poverty.

Motherfucker.

Give me them damn cigarettes.

Oh, these is Marlboros. I don't--I don't smoke these.

[laughter]

- Hey, I got some veal coming you are gonna love.

- Bené, bené.

- Excuse me, may I sit here?

- No.

- Excuse me?

Is anybody sitting here?

- You.

You're right, you know?

- Beg your pardon?

- You're right.

- About what?

- Genevieve.

She's thinking about divorcing you.

In fact, she's having lunch with your old law partner

to talk it through.

- How do you know my wife's name?

- God told me.

- Attention.

According to new state health guidelines,

starting the end of the month,

smoking will be prohibited

inside Oswald Penitentiary.

[prisoners clamoring]

Settle down! Settle down!

Anyone caught with tobacco will be charged

with possession of contraband and sent to Ad Seg!

[clamoring continues]

That is all.

[all shouting]

- Well, one of you fucked up!

- [grunting]

- So, this is where they make the prison uniforms?

- Well, actually, no.

Our uniforms come from Taiwan.

These are prison clothes we make to sell.

- Sell? To who?

- They're hip or hop, I'm not sure which.

Grab a bolt and pull.

- [grunts]

[vacuum whirring]

- You know, I'm not really

used to doing this kind of work.

[stammering] Not that I think that

there's anything wrong with it or demeaning.

- What you do on the outside?

- I was a lawyer.

- I hate lawyers almost as much as I hate cops.

[gate buzzes]

- Count!

- What now?

- We go to our cells, they count heads,

then lock us up for the night.

- But it's 5:00.

What am I supposed to do? What time is lights out?

- 10:00 P.M.

- What do I do for five hours?

- Try to keep breathing.

- [laughs softly]

Hey, what are you doing with my stuff?

- What stuff? - Come on, those are mine.

- Anything you got belongs to me,

you understand?

- Time to count, gentlemen.

Come on out.

- Just getting to know my new cellmate.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

[switches turning]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- There's something in the air...

and it ain't love.

♪ ♪

[clothes fall]

- I won't be fucking you, prag.

At least...

not tonight.

♪ ♪

- Hey.

You mind if I sit here?

Vern Schillinger.

All right, I understand.

I saw last night, Adebisi giving you shit,

taking your stuff.

- This morning he stole my watch.

- That sucks.

Tried the same shit with me when I first got here.

- What'd you do?

- I went to McManus,

asked him to switch me to another pod.

- And he did?

- Yeah, sure.

Just don't say it has to do with Adebisi.

You get him in trouble, he'll kill you.

In the meantime, wear armor.

- Armor?

- [chuckles]

So...

you ratted on me, huh?

- Back off.

- Who are you telling to back off?

- You, boy.

- [laughs]

Oh, yeah? Make me back off.

- Play nice.

- [smooches]

- I'm on top.

- Okay.

- You're not a Jew, are you?

- Me? Jewish?

I don't even like Barbra Streisand.

[laughs]

- Like my tattoos?

Gonna have to get you one.

- Uh...no, thanks.

- Oh, yeah.

I'm gonna brand you myself.

- Livestock gets branded.

- "Livestock."

That's what you are:

my livestock.

Because now, Tobias,

your ass belongs to me.

- They call this the penal system.

But it's really the penis system.

It's about how big, it's about how long,

it's about how hard.

Life in Oz is all about the size of your dick,

and anybody who tells you different ain't got one.

- [groans]

[lighter ignites]

- [humming]

♪ ♪

[gates buzzing, opening]

Beecher, come on, breakfast.

- No.

- Suit yourself.

[bell rings] - Shake down.

[dogs growling, barking]

[indistinct chatter]

- No, that ain't mine!

That ain't mine! Ya set me up!

[shouting] - Hey!

- Come on. - Hey!

You asshole!

- Hey, get this scum out of here.

You believe this? This guy here.

Hey, whoa, hey.

- Shakedowns aren't enough.

We need more than a few sniffing dogs

to stop the flow of drugs.

- We need to fight the addiction.

- No, no, we need to fight the traffic.

- How do we do that ?

- Week-long lockdown.

Let's see 'em try to move their shit

sitting in their cells 24-7.

- Yeah, so I get it.

Your big idea is punish everybody, guilty or not, right?

- I sure as hell don't hear you

coming up with anything better.

- I'm telling you, Leo,

fucking McManus is out of fucking control.

He tells me yesterday

he's thinking of starting a "quiet time."

You ready for that?

An hour every day when the cons gotta sit in silence.

I mean, what's next, milk and cookies?

Arts and crafts?

- Maybe you should've listened to what I was saying, Healy.

We gotta make 'em be quiet in here

because when they get out and they get a job,

they're gonna have to sit and do their work and be quiet.

- Oh, come on, man, what kind of fairy dust you been snorting?

These stupid fucks

aren't gonna work for fucking Microsoft!

It's bullshit.

- If an inmate survives Oz,

he's got balls on the street.

I wanna take some of the glamour away from that.

I wanna take some of the glory away from that.

Maybe a high-school education.

Maybe learn to fucking read.

- If everybody's done making speeches, I'm moving on.

Next item: no smoking rule.

- More bullshit.

You expect us to enforce this ban?

- These are state guidelines

recommended by the board of Corrections,

passed by the legislature, signed by the governor.

- The governor is an asshole.

- You mean politically, or you speaking personally?

- He campaigned on the "no perks for prisoners" platform.

He's gonna reinstate the death penalty.

He's gonna slash our budget.

He's gonna incite a riot.

- [scoffs] Riot?

- Yeah, I heard what happened in the cafeteria.

It's just gonna escalate.

This place is fueled by smoke.

- I know that Marlboros aren't gonna disappear.

They're just gonna go underground like drugs.

I said we have to enforce the new rules.

I didn't say that I liked them.

Next item: Kareem Said.

Now, he arrives today, and I don't have to tell you

what a potential powder keg this can be.

Not just because he blew up

a white-owned warehouse in his community.

Said claims that he is not a criminal,

that he is a political prisoner,

and until all the appeals and shit are cleared,

he is to be treated with kid gloves.

After that we can bury him in Gen Pop.

- Prisoner number 9-7-S-4-4-4...

- Open.

- Kareem Said.

A.K.A. Goodson Truman,

convicted June 6th, '97, arson in the second degree.

Sentence: 18 years.

Eligible for parole in five.

- In Em City, we treat each other

the way that we would like to be treated.

We treat each other with respect.

- And what happens when one of us does not respect the other?

- There's violence.

- Then prison life isn't all that different

than the outside world.

- Your celebrity status

doesn't buy you any extra advantages here.

All my prisoners are equal.

- [laughs] How ironic.

To finally be an equal in a place

where I do not have the freedom to enjoy it.

- You do the work assigned you, you stay out of trouble,

we're gonna get along just fine.

Otherwise, you go into the general population,

and, Kareem... [chuckle softly]

In the rest of Oz,

nobody's treated the way that they would like to be treated.

- Then I consider myself warned.

- I've read a couple of your books.

I know the influence that you can have over other men,

so I'm hoping we can work together,

make everybody's stay here more productive.

- I would like to help my brothers live a full life.

- Yeah, so would we all.

Anything else we can tell you?

- No.

I do have one thing I can tell you.

- What's that?

- 78% of the population at Oswald State Penitentiary

are men of color.

The ratio is, at last count,

one officer for every nine prisoners.

We could take this prison anytime we wanted to.

- You could take it.

But you wouldn't be able to keep it.

- Hm. That remains to be seen.

- Are you telling me you intend to start a riot?

- What I'm telling you is,

as of today,

I run Oz.

- Don't you fuck with me, my brother.

[men chanting outside] Officers.

- As-Salaam-Alaikum, brother.

[chanting continues]

[chanting silences]

- There is always in Oz

an undercurrent of fear...

of violence...

of hate...

waitin' to explode.

- [sighs]

- Prisoner number 9-6-C-3-8-2,

Dino Ortolani.

Convicted December 12th, '96,

one count murder in the first degree,

assault with a deadly weapon.

Sentence: life imprisonment

without the possibility of parole.

[thunder rumbling]

[both groaning]

- McManus, we gotta talk.

- About what?

- About sex.

- Sister, you're insatiable.

- And you are not that funny.

Now look, Dino Ortolani has requested

a conjugal visit.

- So?

- Well, that would make it the fourth since January.

- So?

- Well, so it's part of my job to arrange for inmates

and their--what...

Excuse me, am I in your way here?

To arrange

for inmates and their wives to make whoopee.

And it's part of your job to tell me

if said inmate has earned said whoopee.

- Four times in a year.

That's more sex than I had when I was married.

- Maybe that's why you're divorced.

- Give him a six-hour conjugal.

- Wow, is that all?

- Yep.

- Well...

I just hope he's not a premature ejaculator.

- [laughs] - [whistles]

- Oh, for a second I thought you escaped.

- Thanks, kid.

- He ate his mother.

- Get outta here.

- So I heard. He killed her,

then he broiled her head,

smothered it in onions.

- What, no garlic?

- He had his father in the freezer.

- Sick fuck.

What the fuck's wrong with this country?

In the old days, murder was murder.

You killed someone, it was business.

And you sure as Christ didn't eat 'em.

- Times have changed, Nino.

- Fuck that.

Times change, nothing changes, nothing ever changes.

♪ ♪

- Now, my brothers,

we must dedicate ourselves

to a whole different set of principles,

to a whole new set of priorities.

We must rekindle

our natural sense of purity.

The heart and the mind

must be cleansed and set free.

And that means no drugs,

no alcohol,

and no cigarettes, brother.

[laughs]

Yes, my brother.

No foul language

and no abnormal sex.

You see these temptations?

They must be replaced

by a strict discipline

and a channeled focus.

And not only will our lives here in Satan's house

be improved, but our spirits

will be renewed.

- Yes, brother. - Hm.

We are not a gang of hoodlums.

We are a group of men

rooted in Africa and living in America.

We are strong and proud.

- Yes, sir.

- We are an entity, a presence.

We are a force,

and we must be dealt with.

We are voices

and we must be heard.

[chuckles]

Now, there's a white man.

He may have enslaved us with his laws,

and he may have enslaved us

in his jail,

but he has not...

cannot...

will not...

enslave the very essence

of our mortal soul.

- Oh, praises to Allah.

- [speaking Arabic]

- Are you hearing this shit?

- Yeah.

- Yabba-dabba-do.

- Heh.

- This fuck Said is a threat.

You tell Schibetta we gotta stick together on this one.

- You see me riding a bicycle?

- What? - I ain't a messenger boy.

You got something to tell Nino, tell him yourself.

- Yeah, yeah.

Hey, lookie here,

We might not have to worry.

♪ ♪

- The fuck you doing, Kareem?

♪ ♪

- You like being on your knees, eh?

Maybe you like to suck this?

Come on.

What the fuck you doin', huh?

- Get your ass outta here.

You talking to my boys about dealing drugs?

Stay the fuck out of my business.

- Is this what you want? - Huh?

- Is this really what you want?

- Bust your ass? Yeah.

- We Muslims believe in non-violence.

We believe in respecting our neighbor.

- Well, we...don't.

- I will give my life for you.

- You're gonna have to.

- So be it.

♪ ♪

Brother, hit me.

Now, I told you to hit me, now hit me.

Hit me.

Hit me! Hit me!

[both grunting]

Hit me in the face, brother.

[breathing heavily]

Again!

Harder!

- What the hell's going on over there?

Come on, break it up!

- You're a crazy motherfucker, you know that?

- As-Salaam-Alaikum, brother.

Peace be unto you.

[panting]

- What day is it?

- Friday.

- Friday? Feels more like Monday.

- Ready for this?

Guess who's checking into Oz tomorrow?

- Your Uncle Vinnie.

- [chuckles] - Nah, the Feds got Vinnie.

- [chuckles] - Ryan O'Reily.

- Get the fuck outta here.

- I'm shittin' you?

Why am I gonna shit you about that scumbag?

- They gotta be crazy to put that motherfucker near me.

- Maybe they know exactly what they're doing.

You better be careful, Dino.

- He ain't gonna be in Em City.

He's gonna be somewhere over the rainbow.

- I'm gonna cap that motherfucker.

- You ain't gonna do a fuckin' thing...

unless I say so.

- Capiche.

[boxing bag rattling]

♪ ♪

- C'mon.

Thanks.

[gate buzzes]

- Count!

- Oz is where I live.

Oz is where I will die,

where most of us will die.

What we were don't matter.

What we are don't matter.

What we become...

Don't matter.

Does it?

[indistinct chatter]

- Hey, how are you? - Hey, what's up?

- Hey.

- Heh. Look at this guy.

You fucking faggot.

[scoffs]

- Siediti.

- Come on, get up.

- I can't let this guy disrespect me like that, man.

- Are you stupid or what ?

There are cops all around the place.

- Fuck it.

- Who's Keane ?

- Me. So?

- I'm O'Reily.

- Like I said, so?

- I heard you can take care of a little business for me.

- What kind of business?

- Dino Ortolani.

I want him air-holed and I am willing to pay.

- We don't kill wiseguys around here.

- Yum, yum, plastic.

[tray slams]

My brother says hello.

Says you can help.

- I'm here, ain't I? - Mm.

- Open gate 57, Vegas.

Shut it.

Who?

- Ortolani.

The niggers are afraid to touch him.

- You don't have to worry about wasting Ortolani.

He's on self-destruct.

[indistinct chatter]

[all cheering]

- Yeah, bettin' me on the ball.

Give it up.

- Allah...

Allah, Allah...

- [blows raspberry]

[both grunting]

[grunting continues] [alarm blaring]

- Fuckin' faggot!

[alarm continues]

- Aah!

- [grunting] - Aah!

- [grunting]

- Enough, Ortolani! - Get off!

Aah!

[both screaming]

[all grunting]

- Back to your cells. Lockdown.

Back to your cells. - What happened?

- Back to your cells. - What happened?

- Lockdown, lockdown!

- Who did this to my brother?

- Back to your cells. - Who did this to my brother?

- Don't play with that.

You better hope they get Billie Keane

to City Hospital on time.

He flames out, you're up for murder.

- Doctor, I'm in here for life.

I don't think one more murder's gonna matter.

By the way, you have an angel's touch.

- When you were outside,

did you ever get laid with a line like that?

- Outside, I was faithful to my wife.

- Yeah.

- I was faithful by choice.

In here, I don't got no choice.

Or do I ?

- No choice, no chance.

- How come you're not volunteering

over at the women's prison?

How come you're in here shaking your tits

in front of 1,400 guys?

- Well, I'm trying to meet men

and I'm bored with the bar scene.

- [chuckles] So you married?

- That's none of your business.

- 'Cause I've gotta wonder about a guy

who'd let his slice come into a pit like this.

I mean, don't he got any concern for you?

- Oh, he's got plenty of concern.

- Oh, so you are married.

Ow.

- You happy?

- "Happy", Doctor?

Oh, I'm delirious.

[knocking on door]

- Yeah?

Yeah, have a seat, Dino.

Take the cuffs off, please.

- You sure?

Am I sure? Yeah, I'm sure.

Take the cuffs off, please.

- [sighs]

- You can wait outside.

- [sighs]

- How you doing, Dino?

You're doing a lot better than Billie Keane

'cause he's in Intensive Care now.

- I don't start fights.

- Yeah, I know. You finish 'em.

Look, I'm gonna tell you something,

and I'm gonna say it once,

and I'm gonna say it as simply as I can.

Every inmate, every officer

either hates your guts

or they're terrified of you, or both.

- Being popular has never been a big concern of mine.

- Well, how about staying alive?

Is that a concern, hmm?

Keep it up, someone's gonna kill you.

- So what?

I'm gonna be sitting in that cell

until they carry my tight little guinea ass

out in a body bag.

So why don't you just shut up or put me in the fucking hole?

[chair squeaking]

Dino, do you know why in Em City

I put lifers in with all the rest?

So that people can learn to live together.

And not just for when they get released.

Even if you're in here for the rest of your life,

even if you're in here until you die,

your life can have some purpose.

- [laughs] Hey, you hear that ?

Are you on drugs, McManus ?

If you're not, you should start.

- You know, this is your third fight

related to some kind of homosexual encounter.

[chuckles softly]

You can't go swinging on a guy

every time he makes a pass at you, Dino.

- What am I supposed to do?

The guy's being all faggy, stroking his dick

in front of me, trying to make it hard.

- Laugh it off.

- I don't have that kind of sense of humor.

- As punishment,

instead of putting you in lock-up,

I'm assigning you to work in the AIDS ward.

- Wait, wait, what the fuck?

- Mr. Healy? - Hey, what are you,

fucking nuts?

Hey, I work the kitchen!

- You work in the AIDS ward.

- Come on.

- You fucking punk!

Get the fuck out of my office!

- Nino, you gotta do something about this, man.

You gotta get me off this hospital duty shit.

- Who the fuck you talking to?

I don't gotta do a fucking thing.

- I'm telling you right now, man.

I'm not touching no diseased faggots.

- Most of them are junkies.

- Junkies--I don't care how they got it.

I don't wanna get it.

- Then be careful.

- What, are you saying you ain't gonna do nothing for me?

- That's right.

- I run the kitchen, Nino!

- You're raising your voice to me.

[speaking Italian] This is what I'm talking about.

You gotta learn to behave.

Wiseguys been running these joints for generations.

How?

With this...

and this.

We run the racket same as on the street.

But you, you're il arrabbiato.

You're gonna kill O'Reily.

You're gonna kill the faggot.

You gotta learn to think before you act.

Life ain't an ice pick.

So go play nurse maid for a while.

Go wipe some asses.

- [chuckles softly]

"Wipe some asses."

- Yeah.

- Fuck McManus. Fuck these motherfuckers.

[sighs]

[monitor beeping]

♪ ♪

[man coughing]

Chow time, Sanchez.

- I'm not hungry, man.

- Dr. Nathan said you might say that.

Dr. Nathan said to feed you anyway.

♪ ♪

Jeez, like one of my kids.

Open your mouth.

- I wanna die, man.

- Open your goddamned,

motherfuckin', cocksuckin' mouth.

- Well, thanks a lot.

- It's so good to see you too, Gloria.

- Thanks for shackling me with Dino Ortolani.

Not only can't he keep his hands off my fanny,

he's got the bedside manner of Attila the Hun.

- Well, he gets into a fight,

I stick him in the hole every time.

I'm trying to break the pattern here.

- He's a violent criminal, a thug born to kill.

He'll never change.

- Mm. So what do you suggest then?

Caning, castration?

- Lorazepam.

Sedate Ortolani with four milligrams of Lorazepam.

Put him in a passive state,

he gets a great buzz, and he doesn't harm anyone.

- Better prison through chemistry?

- Grow some balls, Tim.

- Free for dinner tonight ?

- I'm married.

- You're separated.

Wanna have dinner?

- Yes.

- I'll have balls by then.

- Hopefully.

- My brother's lying in a fuckin' hospital,

half-dead, tubes running up his nose

because of that fucking dago.

- What do you want ?

- I heard you're having a meeting about Ortolani.

- Brothers only.

- Yeah, whatever.

- Hey, what's going on?

What are you all doing in here?

- Just consoling me about my brother.

- Well, your brother's a fag, Keane.

They say it runs in families.

You a fag, too?

- Why don't you suck my dick and find out?

- [chuckles]

You got two minutes to finish your work.

Everybody else, out.

- That's cute. [tray clatters]

You and me, we can get this job done.

- Johnny, you up.

I want you to go in the hole and whack that wop.

- McManus didn't put Ortolani in the hole.

He's got him doing bedpan duty in the AIDS ward.

- Yeah? - Yeah.

It'll take a couple of days,

but I'll get your man Post here reassigned to the AIDS ward.

- It's all right, when the moment's right,

you take the guinea out for all of us.

♪ ♪

- Dino, my friend,

I've been looking for you.

- Yeah? What do you want, Schillinger?

- I heard you crippled Billie Keane.

The Aryan Brotherhood is grateful.

- Swell.

- Just trying to give you a little jizz here.

- I don't need your jizz.

- Well, fuck you then.

- No, fuck you.

What happened in that shower was between me and the fag boy.

It had nothing to do with you, you fucking redneck scumbag.

Why don't you take your fucking pure-white ass

and get the fuck away from me?

- Stupid greaseball.

[gate buzzes] - Count!

- Greaseball, cracker, mick, spic,

kike, gook, nigger...

words-- words are weapons.

I'd rather have a MAC-10 anytime, though.

Some inmates say that violence

is the worst thing we gotta face.

For me, the worst thing is the great yawn.

How do you fill day after dull-ass day?

We have these routines

that are supposed to give our lives order and meaning.

But I'm here to testify,

I'm less afraid of getting shanked in my back

than the routine,

'cause the routine...

man, the routine'll kill you.

[faucet running]

-[ sighs]

- I wanna see my daughter.

Hey, I wanna see my daughter.

- You're more fucking trouble than you're worth, Sanchez.

You have a daughter?

I thought you were queer.

- Queers have daughters.

- I guess so.

- She's...

she... [groans]

She's three.

- I have a son that age.

- Yeah.

Want...

want cigarettes?

- Not allowed to smoke.

- I wanna see my daughter. Where you going?

I wanna see my daughter.

- I'm right here, man.

So tell me,

why the fuck did you get AIDS?

- I-I loves...I...

I loved heroin.

It--it took me to another body.

It made me feel golden.

You?

- No, I never liked that shit.

I sold a lot of it, though.

- May...maybe I got...

mine from you.

- No, I was never on the street dealing.

- Still...

- Listen, you little fuck,

I was in the business, pure and simple.

♪ ♪

I never told you to fucking

share your needles with anybody.

No smoking.

♪ ♪

- Yo, Ortolani.

- What do you want, Post?

- I'm gonna be working in the AIDS ward with you.

Great news, huh?

- [scoffs] Yeah.

- Got an extra cig?

- No, no extra one.

- Hey, Ortolani, how you doing ?

- Christ.

- You know, Jesus Christ,

this is like fucking high school.

- You think by shoving me in the AIDS ward

you're gonna change me? Huh?

Huh?

Let me tell you something, Coach,

even with all your good intentions,

all your reforms, and all your overhaul policies,

I ain't ever gonna change.

We ain't ever gonna change,

none of us.

Fuck.

[door opens]

- Hi, Timmy, what's up?

- Dino Ortolani.

Cancel his conjugal visit.

Tell him, uh...

instead he can have family time.

- "Family"? He's Italian.

That can means upwards of a hundred people.

- No, no, no, just his wife and kids.

And I want 'em to meet behind the glass.

I want him to see 'em but no touching.

- [sighs] Oh, Tim,

you wanna be careful.

- About what?

- Of playing God once too often.

If you're not careful,

the real one's gonna get very pissed off.

[indistinct chatter]

- Hi!

Thank you, baby. Listen, why don't you

go--go play over there? Let me talk to Daddy.

- Hey. - Hi.

- What happened?

Why you got sandbags?

[children chattering] - I slipped in the shower.

- Shh, quiet.

- Let 'em play, they're kids.

They shouldn't feel cooped up.

How you doing, Ginny?

- The house is so empty.

- They treating you okay?

- Of course.

Babe, the money, it don't mean nothing to me.

- As long as you can take care of those two,

that's what's important.

- I miss you.

- What'd I tell you about that?

You have to go on with your life.

- I don't wanna hear about that.

- You have to go on with your fucking life, Ginny.

You have to make like I'm dead.

You have to treat me like I got shot like Mario and Jake.

- What?

You want me to find a guy?

You want me to get married again?

You want some guy watching your kids grow up,

call him "Daddy"?

♪ ♪

- I don't want you ever bringing them back here ever again.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Some fucking pussy inmate took the state to court,

says smoking's bad for his health.

Fuck, this whole fucking place is bad for your health.

You know what I'm sayin'? - Mm-hmm.

- But the state, they pussies, too.

Ban cigs in all the prisons.

I'm 30 more years without a fucking cigarette?

No fuckin' way.

They won't even let the brothers in solitary puff.

Like they worried about catching fucking lung cancer.

- You like to hear yourself talk, don't you?

- You ever wonder what it's like to burn someone's eye out?

- Oh, yeah. - Put that out.

You, get out of my chair.

- Yes, ma'am.

- Go take care of Emilio Sanchez.

- What'd he do now ?

- He had an accident.

Change him and then sponge him.

- [scoffs] No way.

I ain't touching that diseased turd.

- Oh, yes, you are.

- Oh, no, I ain't.

- Look, Sanchez hasn't got long and he knows it.

Now, I can't do more for him than dull the pain,

and the least that you can do is not let him die

lying in his own shit.

- Okay.

Thank you.

- You're welcome.

[distant car honks]

- [scoffs]

- Let's go, Sanchez.

- I wanna die.

- Yeah, well, you're gonna get your wish.

- Please.

- Please what?

- Help me.

♪ ♪

- [chuckles softly] Help you?

♪ ♪

Here.

♪ ♪

- [sighs]

Help me die.

- Fancy meeting you here.

Hey, I want you to know, Dino, I got no hard feelings.

Your goombah tells you to kill me,

to try to make your bones, I appreciate that.

It's not your fault I didn't die.

- Yeah, it's not your fault you didn't have the balls

to come after me, man.

You go running to the D.A., you rat bastard.

- You see, now you're trying to provoke me into a fight,

which will go down on my record,

which will keep me from getting a berth in Em City.

- You coming to Em City ?

- Yeah, how about that?

You and me, lasagna boy.

Side by side, every single day

for the rest of our lives.

Unless, of course, I get parole in 12, hmm?

- You come to Em City, you're dead.

- Well, I guess that means I can't use you

as a reference, huh?

[groans]

- Come on, come on. - [groans]

Fuck off!

Fuck you!

- You're gonna eat shit! - Fucker!

[gurgling]

[coughing] - Shit.

You can take a punch, huh?

- When I have to.

- Got all the answers, too.

- No, not all.

But some.

- Yeah, well...

It's too bad you're the wrong color.

[machine beeping]

[beeping accelerates]

[beeping slows]

[beeping flat-lines]

[alarm blaring] - What the fuck is going on?

- That bastard killed one of my patients.

I came in, but it was too late already.

He's a monster. You gotta do something.

You gotta stop him!

- All right!

[men grunting]

No, no, no, no, no, no!

[grunting continues] No, no!

- We can handle this, McManus!

[grunting continues]

- Fuck you!

[grunting, blows landing]

- [winces]

- People kill to stay alive.

That's as true in prison as out.

[door unlatches]

- [grunts] Fuck you!

- But I'm wondering why

in here we fight so hard to stay alive.

A man gets sentenced to 100 years,

he really thinks if he exercises,

gets all buff, stays diesel,

he's gonna walk out?

- [groaning]

- A judge says life imprisonment

without the possibility of parole.

Without the possibility.

[laughs]

Lifers.

At some point they realize they ain't going nowhere.

I seen it happen.

A calm comes in their eyes.

It's like they figured out something

that the rest of us are never gonna see.

They're suddenly free in a whole other kind of way.

They are ready to die.

And maybe they do what they can to help that shit along.

[lock unlatches]

[match sparks]

[dark music]

[tense jazzy music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪