Original subtitles

[overlapping speaking]

[TV announcer] Three, two, one.

Let's join Pat Robertson,

in the penitentiary now with maximum security.

[Pat Robertson] In this prison alone,

the population has tripled.

Some of the toughest men perhaps in the country

are in this prison in Florida.

534 of these men are locked up in solitary confinement.

Some are awaiting the death penalty,

and the electric chair is still working here.

Homosexual acts take place here every day.

It's a rough place.

But in the midst of all this,

we found men who were radiant with the glory of the Lord.

And you're going to meet the prison population.

For we're getting ready to hold a service here,

and we're going to pray that God will do something great

in the Florida State Prison.

[gate buzzes]

["I Got Stripes" playing]

♪ On a Monday I was arrested ♪

♪ On a Tuesday They locked me in the jail ♪

♪ On a Wednesday My trial was attested ♪

♪ On a Thursday They said guilty ♪

♪ And the judge's gavel fell ♪

♪ I got stripes, Stripes around my shoulders ♪

♪ I got chains, Chains around my feet ♪

[Jack] Here I was at the very, very, very end of the line.

FSP, Florida State Prison.

That's where I started.

And it was mean, and it was rough.

♪ On a Monday I got my striped britches ♪

♪ On a Tuesday I got my ball and chain ♪

[Pat Robertson] The state prison, located near Stark

in north central Florida, is not a pleasant place.

It's dark, overcrowded, and understaffing

prevents many inmates

from getting much needed rehabilitation.

All of our institutions are tremendously overcrowded,

and we're continuing to build facilities.

But that's not going to be sufficient

to take care of the population problem.

♪ And them chains, Them chains ♪

♪ They're about To drag me down ♪

[Jack] The head of the prison system,

Louie Wainwright, wanted everybody in the system working,

so he put guys out on the road squad.

You see it in old movies likeCool Hand Luke.

Just rough, rough manual labor.

♪ On a Wednesday I'm down in solitary ♪

♪ I got chains, Chains around my feet ♪

[Bobby Greenwood] Me and Murphy, we were cellmates together.

♪ And them chains, Them chains ♪

♪ They're about To drag me down ♪

[song ends]

[metallic clicking]

[Jack] I went to prison with two life sentences

and 20 years on top of that,

and with a parole date

that nobody in the world could ever do.

They're going to release me in the year 2244.

Everything had just gone insane.

And I'm in that situation where I don't like it,

and I don't believe it

because all they had was hearsay evidence.

[camera shutter clicking]

They locked me up because I'm Murf the Surf.

I'm the guy in the news.

It's like the name Charlie Manson.

It sells newspapers.

♪♪♪

[crowd clamoring, camera shutters clicking]

[Jack] I figured I may never ever get out of here.

So I've tried everything.

And I took one of my cases to the Supreme Court.

[Chief Justice Burger] We will hear arguments next

in Murphy against Florida.

Mr. Swickle, you may proceed, I think, whenever you are ready.

[Harvey S. Swickle] There are two issues that are presented

here for this court's consideration today.

Both dealing with pre-trial publicity in a criminal matter.

The first question is whether the jurors' knowledge

through the news media of a defendant's prior convictions

is so inherently prejudicial

that the jury should be excused for cause.

News articles were permitted into the jury room--

news articles which branded the defendant as a hoodlum,

as a convicted felon, as a convicted murderer.

[Chief Justice Burger] But none of the actual jurors in the case

said that he himself, or she herself

had formed an opinion about guilt.

[Harvey S. Swickle] No one said they had a fixed opinion.

[Chief Justice Burger] Right. Thank you, gentlemen.

The case is submitted.

[gavel bangs]

[news reporter] Murf the Surf's Supreme Court appeal

was shot down by the High Court last week,

but few would know because Murphy's latest move

only generated two paragraphs of news coverage.

♪♪♪

[Jack] I just got turned down on the Supreme Court,

and I'm sitting there battling this,

but I had another thing going on

with a group I had connections with.

[female reporter] The Underground Weatherman Group

is now publicly claiming to the media

that its members helped LSD enthusiast,

Timothy Leary, escape from prison.

[Timothy Leary] I escaped with the help

of the Weatherman Underground.

They not only helped us escape, they helped my wife, Rosemary,

and myself leave the country with great efficiency.

[Jack] The Weathermen were going to get me out

and take me to Algeria

where I could stay with Timothy Leary

and some of those other screwballs over there.

And that thing was rolling.

I was going to get picked up and do an escape.

Former partner of mine,

highly decorated Navy Seal,

was going to come and get me.

Piece of cake, no big deal.

[Jack] And then he gets busted

coming into the States with a phony ID.

And so that shuts that whole thing down.

[birds chirping]

And so my escape plan is shot down.

My Supreme Court thing is shot down.

I had big attorneys. They weren't enough.

Whatever I had going for me was not enough.

[gate alarm blaring]

The fat lady cleared her voice and sang her aria and gone home.

It was over, baby. [laughs] It was-- it was done.

♪♪♪

And I'm just looking for some more drugs to kill the pain.

[Traffic's "Dear Mr. Fantasy" playing]

♪ Dear Mr. Fantasy, Play us a tune ♪

♪ Something to Make us all happy ♪

[Meryl Gordon] The sentence was so long when you know

that this is going to be your life.

It was incredibly hard for him

after having this free-spirited life,

I think there was a level of disbelief

that finally it had all caught up with him.

He had a really rough adjustment.

Initially, he got into a lot of fights.

He wasn't particularly well thought of by the guards.

And he really had to fight to convey to the world

that he was not to be messed with.

♪♪♪

[Kitten] Florida State Prison

was the worst prison in Florida.

The noises, microphones going off,

and bells ringing and doors clanging,

and the screaming was the real horror.

Somebody threw a bit of lighter fluid in a cell

and set fire to the Black guy that was in there.

Somebody gets thrown off the second floor,

people getting stabbed.

It's no wonder that people go crazy in there.

But Jack was a leader, and leaders survive.

♪♪♪

♪ Dear Mr. Fantasy, Play us a tune ♪

[Domenic Fusco] One thing to do is have the drugs come in

in a laundry truck.

Bobby was a lookout.

Jack would go out there, and he would take

the laundry bag with the drugs in it,

and he would stick it under some of the boards

that were part of the nursery and then go get it later.

[Jack] And after a while,

I'm running a narcotics operation.

I am connected with these big, giant dope dealers,

and I get a good piece of coke coming in there,

and I get morphine, and I get whatever I want.

I got my shades on, and I got a bodyguard.

I happen to be the man.

♪♪♪

Some guy, he owed me $200 for dope.

My bodyguard sent him to the hospital

with his collarbone broken.

You have to do that in that business.

It's ruthless, and that's the way we live.

[clanking]

[crowd chattering]

[James Tilman] Well, I think that Raiford is a powder keg,

because in any situation where you simply herd people

together like cattle,

you cannot expect to treat them

with any degree of human dignity

is really a necessity as far as rehabilitation is concerned.

[rock music playing]

[Jack] Florida State Prison was

a horrible, horrible place.

Finally, it got to a point where I said,

"There's got to be some change here.

I'm not going to live like this the rest of my life."

And a whole bunch of guys in there had the same attitude.

So in February 1971,

I started the only major prison riot

in the history of Florida's prison system.

♪♪♪

[Kitten] Jack called for a strike.

"We weren't gonna eat this slop, sir,"

that kind of thing.

[alarm blaring]

[Jack] Nobody worked, nobody ate,

nobody came out of their cells.

And they went crazy.

They brought in the Florida Marine Patrol,

which is kind of like the Florida National Guard,

and they brought in all the security teams

from all over the state there, and it got busy, busy, busy.

[Kitten] We got calls at the TV station where I worked

that they were locking it down,

and no reporters were gonna be allowed through.

The goon squad was a group of officers

whose sole purpose was to go beat up the guys.

The goon squad loved it because they could be

as brutal as they wanted,

and they were brutal.

Jack got hit in the back.

He got hit in the face with a rifle.

Yeah, he got hit a bunch of times.

[gun shots firing]

[reporter] Approximately 700 inmates took part

in a sit-down strike, causing prison guards

to open fire on them, wounding 63 prisoners.

[Nate Scott] In those moments of glory,

Jack has total control of his narrative.

Did the newspaper seize on Jack as a ringleader

because that was the name they recognized him in the list,

you know, or was he actually really the guy?

Who knows?

[clanking]

[Jack] That's when they locked me on death row

for seven months because I was the cracker

that pushed the button on that.

I didn't have a death sentence,

but they wanted to isolate me because they were afraid

of somebody who could organize like that--

get guys to quit eating and quit working.

It would be cold, and it would be dark.

Get to take a shower, like, every third day,

a three-minute shower.

And while I'm there, I'm trying to figure out,

"What am I doing here? What am I doing here?"

I played music on the big stage.

I'd traveled all over. I'd played tennis.

In my reign as Murf the Surf, I went undefeated.

Do you ever get there where you wonder, "Will this ever end?"

[Kitten] I asked him if he ever thought of suicide,

and he said, "It's for cowards."

[keys jangling]

[lock clicks]

[Jack] Well, I'm sitting down there, and the guy says,

"They want you down at the warden's office."

The thing is this, you never go to the warden's office.

When you go in there, you're usually on the hot seat.

And I walk in there, and there sits Louie Wainwright,

probably the most famous name in American corrections.

This is the big gun.

He says, "I want you to know, if you don't make some changes,

it's going to be a long, rough ride."

"You think you're a leader? You think you're a shot caller?"

He said, "Let me tell you something.

"Real leaders lead their people to higher ground."

"I'm going to bring some real leaders in here,"

"and what you need to do is sit down, keep your mouth shut,"

and maybe you'll learn how to be a leader."

He said, "You need to get in these faith programs

and turn this thing around."

[Frank Costantino] It is good to be with you today.

It is good to be able to share with you

the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Man, I'm convinced of this one thing.

Above all other things,

that the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

is able to make men change.

-[applause] -Amen. Hallelujah.

And I'm going to share it with you today.

[Kitten] Louie Wainwright, who became friends

with Frank Costantino,

who was a hoodlum, who became the head

of a very large ministry called the Bridge.

And Frank would work with Louie on getting people out

and convincing Louie that a man can change.

[Domenic Fusco] Frank was a typical Italian

from the North End of Boston.

Really rough guy. He was charged with robbery.

I want you to raise your hands.

[Frank Costantino] The things that we are ashamed of

right now, Lord Jesus, erase them.

All of the things that caused us to just sit there

and agonize in shame, remove that guilt.

We don't want that to be who we are.

[Frank Costantino] And for you men who have never asked

Jesus into your life, pray this prayer with me.

Say, "Lord Jesus, give me a new life...

today."

[Kitten] Once Frank got his thing going,

he had time to work on getting Jack out.

[Jack] Costantino was a real good friend of mine.

We knew each other way back from Miami Beach.

We'd be in the nightclubs down there,

with Ike and Tina Turner, kicking it.

Frank would be there with some Mafia friends of his.

I'd be in there with my Irish mad men.

He said, "Listen, you make

Wainwright's programs look good,"

he said, "That man will watch your back."

He told me, he said, "If you don't get

in this chapel, you'll die in prison."

At the time, my parole date was in the year 2244.

So I got in the programs.

["Diamond Head" playing]

[Kitten] I had started working at a television station

in the late '60s, worked as a reporter

and a variety of jobs in a small station

that everybody ends up doing, you know,

some editing and copy work.

I met Jack in 1975.

I went to Florida State Prison

to do a story on this religious program they do.

They were all murderers.

And, um, when I met Jack,

he did not look like he was an inmate.

Everybody else was in blue.

He came up in his white uniform,

white Italian loafers, a yachting belt,

and he introduced himself.

And I thought, "Oh, he can't be Murf the Surf."

♪♪♪

Well, I grew up in Naples, Florida,

so when he was in the newspapers in Miami,

he was in the newspapers in Naples.

He was a character.

He never seemed like a danger to anybody

because it was always the fluff piece about the jewel robbery.

People didn't think of the murders.

So I went in and I saw him.

And that weekend he said, "One of the things"

that I lack are my people skills."

And he said, "So I thought about this, and we'll do a contract."

I said, "A contract, huh? What is this gonna say?"

And he said, well, basically he would like me

to visit for six months, but only if I wanted to.

And if I wanted to stop, that was okay.

But he wanted to work on his social graces.

And then in six months,

if we're still seeing each other, we'll rewrite it.

The biggest question that I got was,

"Was it love at first sight?"

No. [chuckles]

Because here was a man in prison

for a double life sentence in 20 years.

He was always intense. He was just an intense person.

You can tell there was somebody behind those eyes

that you didn't want to meet in a dark alley.

[tense music playing]

I had gotten the case files from Whiskey Creek.

And I just read it because I wanted to be convinced

that Jack wasn't absolutely nuts.

[reporter] Describing Murphy as a public enemy

who never again should enjoy the free world

of a law-abiding society,

Judge Stedman sentenced the former beach boy

turned jewel thief and murderer to life imprisonment

and 20 years of hard labor

for his part in the Whiskey Creek killings.

♪♪♪

[Kitten] I had asked Jack Griffith

about Murphy's guilt or innocence,

and he had said,

"You think Jack was driving a boat?

Well, he wasn't innocent."

I read the transcripts,

and nobody can say who did what definitively.

So I just-- I let it go

because I didn't want to make our relationship about that.

And I had several people ask me if I was afraid

and if I was a victim of mind control.

[Kitten laughs]

What do you say? I mean...

I knew I was safe after visiting him

six hours a day, twice a week.

We spent more time together

knee to knee than most married people do.

I could have conversations with him

that I never had with a normal date.

I fell in love with his mind.

Very likable, very charismatic.

After visiting him for years, you talk about everything.

You learn an awful lot about somebody in that time.

He was a man in control, always in control.

[motor boat whirring]

One time, Jeff called this guy who had been

an old smuggler and said, "Take Kitten to the Bahamas."

I thought I was just going on a vacation.

It wasn't supposed to be anything else.

But they were going over to get some drugs and things,

and that I won't talk about.

You know, after a couple of those, I said,

"I'm not doing any of these anymore.

I'm just not gonna do 'em."

[percussion instrument plays]

[dog barking]

[Louie Wainwright] It's extremely difficult

to keep drugs out.

We have lots of visitors of the inmates,

and it's difficult to search a person to the extent

that they cannot bring in drugs of some kind.

But we don't at this time

have hardcore drugs within the system.

It's caused us no serious problem.

[Kitten] Even though he had been going to these

religious programs for years now,

Jack and some of his friends

were still handling the drug business in the prison.

And I told him this, "You need to stop

"being involved in the drug business

if you're telling people you've been saved."

You know, it just couldn't go on.

And he said, "I can't get out of it."

But did you know that sometime that we can even

con our conscience to think that we're all right,

think that we are good and we are perfect,

and we're better than our neighbor?

But, you know, when God looks upon us,

he sees it's all a lie.

We are, by nature, sinners.

[Domenic Fusco] When you get saved,

you're a part of the family of God,

but you still have your mind.

You have your soul and your psyche.

That takes a while to change.

And Jack was not instantly changed.

It took him years to make the full commitment.

♪♪♪

[Kitten] I know Jack feared God,

and there are some sins that automatically restrict you

from going to heaven, and one of them is murder.

[gate buzzes, clank]

Jack never pled guilty,

but he said, "I figure I've got a lot of payback to do."

[Jack] When I was locked up, I received mail, a lot of mail.

And I would get letters from Christians,

and I didn't know who they were.

But they all said the same thing.

"I pray for you every day."

And I'm thinking, "Oh, man, that's sissy stuff.

That ain't me."

And then one day I'd hit rock bottom,

and I get a letter from a guy on a boat down in Key West.

And that's where the change starts right there.

The guy says, "I followed your crime career.

Every, uh, morning, I read the Bible."

And he said, "This morning I read the story about Jonah

that ended up in the belly of that whale."

And he says, "God had a plan for Jonah,

but Jonah didn't want to hear and wanted do his own thing."

"He's a lot like you."

"And he was underwater. And then Jonah says,

"'Out of the belly of hell cried I,

and you heard my voice.'"

The guy in the letter said, "Did you ever cry out to God?

You gotta give God a chance."

["Shifting Sands" playing]

I'm sitting in the cell, and it's just like

something taps me on the shoulder, says,

"You know, this old man is praying for you.

He's speaking some good stuff. You got to give God a shot."

♪ You know the love ♪

♪ I gave you ♪

Well, let me ask you this. How do you talk to God?

How do you pray? You've never done it in your life.

It's all foolishness. So you're bewildered.

♪ 'Cause I was born ♪

♪ To wander ♪

And that for just some reason I said, uh,

"God, I need some help, man.

I-I need some help."

And the guy in the cell next to me says,

"Hey, Murf, you're talking to me?"

I said, "Oh, no, man. No, man. I was just singing."

♪♪♪

I said, "Lord, I'm a sinner,

"and I've got a lot of problems.

Would you please forgive me of my sins?"

At that point, something starts happening,

and it's kind of, like, did you ever do acid?

All of a sudden the walls are breathing,

and people are looking funny and things are melting.

And you try to explain that to somebody,

and they said, "Oh, you're kidding me."

And it's the same way with being a member of the family of God.

Things start happening that aren't a coincidence.

Everybody has sinned,

and the price we pay for that is hell.

You don't go to heaven unless your name is in God's Book.

If you want to have a new life,

if you accept Christ, all things pass away,

and all things become new.

[calm music playing]

Well, now, I've asked the Lord to direct me

and tune me up and make me the man he wants me to be.

I'd be out in the hallway, and I'd see some guy.

I said, that guy would be better off if somebody piped--

if somebody took him out, because he's a jerk.

Well, now my thinking is changing, and I'm looking.

I said, "That poor sucker. I wonder what happened to him."

Because my thinking changed,

my behavior has changed.

If you'll do God's business,

he'll take care of your business.

♪ If any man be in Christ ♪

♪ Then he has become ♪

♪ A new creation ♪

♪ Old things Have passed away ♪

♪ Behold, Everything has become ♪

♪ New in him ♪

[Rick Bair] John 1:10 says,

"If we truly are sorry for our sins

"and we get down on our knees and confess them to Jesus,

they're forgiven."

♪ Praise Him ♪

[reporter] Can you be truly redeemed

without confessing your sins?

[Rick Bair] I know that Jack confessed his sins.

Um, he didn't do the shooting.

Um, but I don't want to speculate and say,

if we don't confess our sins...

um, I'll have to think about that one.

♪ The name of Jesus ♪

♪ Praise ♪

♪ Him ♪

♪♪♪

Hallelujah.

[applause]

Praise the Lord. Praise the name of Jesus.

[static buzzes]

♪♪♪

[reporter] Jack Murphy, alias "Murf the Surf,"

playboy, acrobatic diver,

ballroom dancer, musician, painter,

inmate of Florida's maximum security prison.

He was brought to national fame when he stole the Star of India,

now serving two life sentences for murder.

I asked him why. Why, at the age of 27,

did he turn to crime?

I chased after, uh, happiness,

and I thought it was an entertainment venture,

but nevertheless, there was that emptiness.

I had tried everything else, and being an adventurer.

I said, "Well, we're just gonna give this one a try."

I asked the Lord to come into my life.

I said, "I've made a miserable mess of it

"and I need some help.

"Lord, if You can help me with my situation,

"if You can help me with my--

my grief that I have, all glory is yours."

And just as in that poster that I did of Jonah,

Jonah cried out, and God heard him

in the belly of the whale, and I cried out,

and God came into my life.

Jack, what do you think about what's needed in prisons?

-We talk about rehabilitation. -Yeah.

I've seen men who I would have given up on,

and I've seen the miracle of God work in that man's life

and transform that man.

Many people, when they say,

"I see God in the sunset and I see him

"in the trees and the flowers and the desert

that's in bloom and the ocean and all."

But we see God here in the junk pile.

We see God in the garbage can here,

and we know that God is real in here.

["Jesus Is Just Alright" plays]

The Bible says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

"If any man will hear my voice

and will open the door, I'll come in."

There's a nail-scarred hand knocking right now

at the door of your heart.

[Frank Donnelly] I tend to be skeptical, I guess,

of most religious transformations,

but in his case, maybe even more so.

♪ Jesus is just Alright with me ♪

♪ Jesus is just alright, Oh, yeah ♪

[Frank Donnelly] But if you're a believer

and you want to find the good in someone,

Murphy didn't give you any reason not to believe him.

♪ I don't care What they may say ♪

It doesn't matter how many people you've killed.

It doesn't matter how often you've robbed somebody.

It doesn't matter how many lies you've told,

how immoral you've been. It doesn't matter.

♪ Jesus is just alright, Oh, yeah ♪

♪ Jesus is just alright ♪

[Domenic Fusco] He really was touched by God,

and he shared the Gospel with people,

prayed with people, cried with people.

[Pat Robertson] Your whole life has been crucified.

It's gone, dead, buried.

But there's a brand-new life that rose again.

And you can have a brand-new start,

a brand-new life

if you will come to Jesus Christ right now.

♪ I don't care What they may know ♪

[Jim Kelly] I think people can change.

I think with Murphy it was bullshit.

It just reeks of corruption.

♪ Jesus is just alright, Oh, yeah ♪

[Jim Kelly] "Oh, I found God. I'm not a bad boy anymore.

I'm gonna go to confession and receive Holy Communion."

That's a bunch of bullshit.

♪ Jesus, he's my friend ♪

[Sonny Grech] I think that Frankie Constantino

planted the seed,

and Murphy took it and ran with it.

This is your only way out.

[John McNally] From a detective's point of view,

a lot of guys go into jail, and they do that.

They do anything they can to get out, you know?

And so if that worked for him, it worked for him.

[Meryl Gordon] When someone has a religious conversion,

you're really not in a position to judge.

So I don't feel capable of judging him on that level.

♪♪♪

[Kitten] When Pat Robertson came up to FSP,

it meant a lot to Jack.

He said, "Because if I'm part of something

"that Pat Robertson endorses,"

then maybe I have changed."

♪ Jesus is just alright with me ♪

[Pat Robertson] Thank you, Jesus,

that you've heard my prayer,

that you've come into my heart,

that you saved my soul,

that you've given me a brand-new life.

Thank you, Lord.

♪ Jesus is just alright, Oh, yeah ♪

[Michael Hamm] Prison officials were skeptical,

except for a few of them that decided

there's hope for this boy here,

because they saw his conversion and saw it was real.

You know, a person becomes a new person

when they get born again.

And that was Murphy, man.

He wanted to help the guys.

[Kitten] I mean, I remember the day

he wrote this book, his little pamphlet thing,

and it literally was in one day.

He wrote it that size because it could be read

in one sitting, and he wrote it for inmates.

You know, he said, I want this so that the guys that here

on cell blocks at the end of the line with bad lighting

that you can't even read by, that they can see the words,

and the people that are illiterate

can look at the pictures.

[Jack] The following pages have been written

for a specific audience.

Gangsters, conmen, hustlers, hookers, dopers,

high rollers, tough guys, and anyone else

who might view the world as a ballpark full of fools,

takers, hypocrites, users, and liars.

[Kitten] When he wrote that book,

you know, he prayed before he started,

and he said, "Well, people either get saved or they won't."

[Jack] My life is undeniable evidence

that even when the lights go out at the end of the tunnel

and all the money is long gone,

when everything shuts down

and living or dying doesn't make any difference,

that there at the end of the line,

at the bottom of the pit, it isn't too late!

[Kitten] Some of these prisons

only had a handful of books,

and they'd read them and they'd pass them on.

One guy was considering suicide,

and somebody passed him this book,

and, uh, he told Jack it had changed his life.

Well, you hear that from ten people,

it tends to ignite you.

[Franky Donnelly] More and more, Murphy begins

enrolling in every self-help,

motivational course, religious program

that the prison has.

[Bob Williamson] Once he became a Christian,

he turned on a dime.

He was just a model inmate.

[Kitten] When Jack finally got out of

the drug business for good,

the only thing that he could think of

that would make him money was artwork.

And so he started painting.

He took orders for one Christmas,

and he made a lot of money,

but he almost went blind doing it.

[Tom Arnold] He was a very confident person.

He knew how the game was played.

You got to show that you're changed and rehabilitated.

I knew he was doing the church stuff,

and for his sake, I hope he was telling the truth of why.

But only him and the good Lord knows that.

[Jack] With most guys doing long sentences,

the worst time in prison

is when you go to the parole board.

[Kitten] You try not to get excited, but you do.

And they have to give you some kind of hope,

or the system fails.

[Frank] All of you who felt the shame...

[Kitten] Frank and I had a fight

because he kept telling me,

"Oh, yeah, I can get them out. I can do this, I can do that."

I finally got fed up with it.

And I said, "Look, if you're not gonna do it,

tell me, and I'll go elsewhere to get Jack out."

[Jack] Here's an opportunity

that the door might open

and so you're all pumped up for that.

And then they turn you down,

and they said, "Well, we'll see you in five years."

♪♪♪

[Kitten] Louie Wainwright,

he went to the parole board for Jack,

he's never been to the parole board

before or since.

♪♪♪

And he said, "If we're to tell these guys

that, 'You're going to prison'

and you're gonna rehabilitate them,

then who better than show them Jack Murphy?"

[reporter] "The continuous media exploitation of 'Murf the Surf'

has haunted my life beyond belief.

But it is Jack Roland Murphy

whom I'd like you to consider at this hearing."

[Pat Robertson] "I would say that he is a sincere Christian

"and has truly had a change of heart

from the type of person he once was."

[Kitten] "After 15 long years,

"it can truly be said that Jack Murphy

is a changed man, changed for the better."

[Jerry Spicer] "I feel so strongly

"about Jack Murphy's sincerity and genuineness

"that if it were possible,

I would gladly do his time for him."

[prisoner 1] "Jack Murphy is a menace to society,

"a con and as phony as Santa Claus

"coming down the chimney.

"Some people can forgive,

"however, you never forget.

What he did was ghastly and horrible."

[Ken Glassman] "Murphy 'found religion.'

"Is it wrong to be cynical at the high percentage of felons

"who become converts after they lay a trail of carnage?

"When one considers the violence,

loss and bloodshed that Murphy caused,

is this the man that society

wants back within its community?"

[Harry G. Hinckley] "I read with horror that Jack Murphy

"is being considered for parole.

What a mockery this type of justice makes of our system."

[woman] "I read in this morning'sArizona Republic

"about the pending release of Jack 'Murf the Surf' Murphy.

"It has bothered me all day that he could have killed

a woman less than 20 years ago and is about to go free."

[superintendent] "Because Jack Murphy is intelligent

"and has the ability to be manipulative,

it is difficult to judge his actions.

Has a career criminal with superior intelligence

matured sufficiently to allow him

in the community safely?

The decision will most probably have to be made

by somebody someday.

I hope it isn't myself."

[Edna Buchanan] He was never supposed to be able

to be out free.

I called some of the cops

that he'd used to deal with and I said, "Guess what?

They're gonna parole Murf the Surf."

One cop was so upset,

he said-- you can write this down.

He said, "If I see him in Miami Beach,

I'm gonna put a bullet in his head."

♪♪♪

♪♪♪