Original subtitles

- Attorney visit for inmate C77015.

[scanning]

[rip]

[camera rotates]

[scanning continues]

- Is that really necessary for a non-contact visit?

- It's procedure, sir.

[door opening and closing]

- Tom, I've been asked to communicate something to you.

The state of California might be willing to consider

a transfer to Folsom Prison in return

for you dropping the suit.

- Might be willing to consider, yeah?

- Right.

- Does that mean they think we might win?

- It might mean that.

It might mean they'd rather not litigate

this until after the elections.

It might mean they want to turn the other prisoners here

against you.

- Have they changed the trial date?

- No.

- They're still flying me out to Los Angeles today?

- If you elect to go to trial, they'll

fly you down to Los Angeles, and we will go to trial.

- Oh, please tell them that I elect to go to trial.

[theme music]

[upbeat instrumental music]

- Private versus the California Department of Corrections.

- Yeah, that's mine.

Tom Padrutt is incarcerated at the security housing unit

at China Lake, a state-of-the-art

super-maximum security prison we're suing

to have it shut down.

- On what grounds?

- On the grounds that the prisoners

there are being kept so totally isolated that they're

being driven insane.

There are no windows, no sunlight, no interaction

with other prisoners.

Literally, they are going mad.

- Sounds like the perfect environment

to reflect on one's past sins and catch up on one's reading.

- How are we so fortunate as to have

this one fall into our laps?

- A prisoner's rights group contacted me.

- Shall we continue?

Golden Pines Retirement Community versus Carr,

Nordoff, and Croft.

This one's mine.

The retirement community is seeking

to evict three senior citizens because they're participating

in a drug experiment.

- What kind of drug?

- They're wearing testosterone patches.

The administrator of the facility

claims that they become overly libidinous and disruptive

as a result.

- A patch?

How ingenious that is.

- It allows you to control the ebb and flow, so to speak.

A poker game with the boys, you take it off.

A weekend up at the San Ysidro Ranch with a tootsie,

you put it on.

- What are you looking at me for?

- No reason.

[laughter]

- We also have the issue of staffing to discuss.

- Yes, we do.

- We've cut through all the potential candidates under

consideration from the past--

résumés, recommendations, favors and the like,

and it pretty much narrows down to 2.

Inez Garcia and Patrick Flanagan.

- Patrick Flanagan is a contender?

- Yes, he is.

- I've told you about my experience with him.

- Yes, you have, and we should certainly factor that

into the decision-making process,

which, I would ask, we conclude by the end of the week.

- And with that, we're adjourned.

- Don't we have something to talk about, you and I?

- No.

- What do you mean no?

You kissed me on the mouth.

- Yes, I was upset.

- Does that mean you regret having done it?

- It means that it was a transitory impulse,

and I acted on it, and now it's passed.

- What can I do to make it come back?

- You can't do anything.

- You little temptress.

I'd like to see you beg.

- What are my chances?

- I'd say they're pretty good.

- You think so?

- Yeah, you graduated in the top 5% of your law school class.

You've got great experience.

Plus, you know me.

- My interview is Thursday. - Great.

- Will you be in the room? - I can't be.

I'm sponsoring you.

- Too bad.

- Oh, you'll do fine.

- I'm nervous.

I'm not used to being around places like this.

- Yeah, well, you can get used to it.

Let me tell you.

- I'm sure you can.

- I'll see you Thursday when you come in.

Maybe we could have lunch together or something.

- I appreciate you doing this, Daniel.

- Inez, I've known you since you were born.

Who are you going to come to for a job if not me?

- Would you state your occupation, Mr. Overvald?

- I am the administrator of the Golden

Pines Retirement Village.

- You've instituted eviction proceedings

against Mr. Carr, Mr. Nordoff, and Mr. Kroft, is that right?

- Yes, it is.

- For the record, would you state

your reasons for doing so?

- They are participating in the clinical trials

of a testosterone patch.

Consequently, they've become disruptive.

- Did you ever see one?

- Harold.

- No, I haven't.

- Boys?

- My, my.

- Like a nicotine patch.

- Only these get you to start smoking.

- Can we return to the matter at hand?

- What specifically do these gentlemen do, Mr. Overvald?

- They wear tight pants.

They stage golf cart races.

They get into fist fights.

And they engage in blatantly promiscuous behavior.

- What's the ratio of women to men in your community,

Mr. Overvald?

- Approximately 5 to 1.

- Is it possible that what you characterize

as promiscuity is nothing more than the laws

of supply and demand at work?

- I didn't just refer to promiscuity, Mr. Brackman.

I referred to blatant promiscuity.

We are talking about necking.

We are talking about swapping.

We are talking about public displays

of highly salacious behavior.

- Is it fair to say, Mr. Overvald,

that you find the idea of senior citizens

being sexually active personally repugnant?

- No, that which seniors do privately and discreetly

is of no concern to me whatsoever.

That which destroys the tranquility of our community,

that which violates our bylaws is of great concern to me.

- Do you have any more need of us, Douglas?

- No. - Let's split.

I've had about all I can take of this little windbag.

- We're not giving up our patches, Monroe.

- And we're not moving out.

- Your depositions start tomorrow, gentlemen.

- We'll be here, doll.

[chuckles]

- You little vixen you.

[laughter]

[transitory instrumental music]

- Mr. Padrutt, how long have you been

incarcerated in the security housing unit

at the China Lake penitentiary?

- Three years and four months.

- Would you describe your cell for us?

- It's 8 feet by 10 feet.

There's a bed, a sink, and a toilet.

There's a shelf above my bed with 10 unbound sheets

of white writing paper, a plastic ink cartridge,

and there's a magazine with staples removed and one book.

On a shelf above the sink, there's one roll of toilet

paper and one bar of soap.

- How many hours a day do you spend in the cell?

- 22.5.

- And where are you during the period of time

that you're not in the cell?

- I'm in the dog run.

- Would you describe for us what the dog run is?

- It's a concrete yard, 12ft by 30ft.

- Would you describe for us the process by which

you're taken in and out of your cell

in order to go to the yard?

- You're handcuffed through a slot in your cell door.

The control booth officer opens the door.

An assault rifle is pointed at you.

And then, you remove all your clothes.

Another officer looks inside your mouth

behind your testicles, and they shine

a flashlight up your rectum.

- And this happens each and every time

that you're taken in and out of the cell?

- Yes, sir.

- Is there ever a time, Mr. Padrutt,

when the prisoners are permitted to interact

with other prisoners.

- No, the prisoners can talk to the other prisoners

through the walls of their cells,

but they're not permitted to see the other prisoners.

- And what effect, if any, have you observed the conditions

to have on the other prisoners?

- Objection.

The witness has no medical or psychological expertise.

He's in no position to answer that question.

- The witness is being asked for his observation.

- I'm going to allow it.

- Mr. Padrutt?

- Well, some of them scream.

Some cry.

Two weeks ago, one of them killed himself

by swallowing a shower head.

- And how do they affect you?

I don't sleep more than a half hour at a time

and I think in a very precise controlled manner.

I worked very hard at keeping myself sane,

but I don't believe I'll be able to do that much longer.

- I have no further questions.

- Who was Michael Sheehy, Mr. Padrutt?

- He's a prisoner at Vacaville State Prison.

- He's a prisoner that you killed, was he not?

- Yes.

- Would you describe to us how you killed him?

- I beat him to death with a mop bucket.

- And who was James Wylie?

- He was a prisoner at San Quentin.

- You killed him too, didn't you?

- Yes.

- Would you describe to us how you killed him?

- I stabbed him in the heart.

- Would you describe for us how you got the knife you used?

- I melted down some candy wrappers

and waited till they hardened into plastic.

And then, I shaped that into a knife.

- And it's your testimony that you are not

a security risk, Mr. Padrutt?

- Michael Sheehy sexually assaulted me.

James Wylie put out a rumor that I was an informant.

In both of these cases, my killing these men

was necessary for my survival.

- I'll ask you again, Mr. Patrick,

is it your testimony that you are not a security risk.

- If I'm such a security risk, then you should kill me.

You should just strap me on the chair, drop in the pellets,

and put me down.

But I do not believe the prison authority has the right

to systematically destroy my mind

and the minds of the other men incarcerated at the SHU.

I do not believe that they have the right to drive us insane.

[knocking]

- Douglas, where do we stand with the interviews?

- Patrick's coming in today.

Ines is coming in tomorrow.

- It would seem as though they're both good candidates.

- I agree.

Although, I'd probably give the edge to the girl.

- Would you?

- She's clerked for a federal judge.

She's worked in the state legislature.

She's handled a number of major appeals successfully.

I think she'd be a real asset.

- What about Patrick?

- A good résumé, a fair amount of trial experience.

It's not that he's a bad candidate or has a bad résumé.

- You know his father and I are extremely good friends?

- Yes.

- Well, they'll both be interviewed, then we'll vote.

- Right.

- You'll be in the room for the interviews?

- Yes.

- Good.

- Are you familiar with these gentlemen, Dr. Gratz?

- Yes, I am.

- And would you tell us in what context it is

that you're familiar with them?

- I work for Durmex Industries.

And I'm involved in the development

of a transdermal testosterone delivery system,

in common parlance, the patch.

These gentlemen are participating

in a clinical trial for same.

- Have any side effects manifested themselves

in this clinical trial?

- Surprisingly few.

- Would aggressiveness be one of them?

- I choose my words very carefully, Ms. Korshak.

Aggressiveness would be an overstatement, some degree

of boisterousness perhaps, an intermittent

rambunctiousness even.

But aggressiveness is not an accurate characterization.

- The purpose of this drug is to heighten

sexual desire, is it not?

- That is one purpose.

Increasing testosterone levels also serves to lessen

fatigue, restore muscle tone.

The potential is here for the patch to become a major asset

in the practice of gerontology.

- How high is high, doctor?

- I'm afraid I don't know as to what you are referring,

Ms. Korshak.

- I would like to know what level of sexual desire

you're trying to attain.

- How is that relevant?

- These gentlemen have been behaving

in a way that suggests that the level is somewhat excessive.

- Sometimes it gets real excessive.

That's when it gets interesting, right, boys?

- Harold.

- Are you familiar with the practice of

double-patching, doctor?

- I am aware that it has occurred.

Certainly, it is not sanctioned, and anyone caught doing so

will be immediately dropped from the group.

- You didn't have to drop Earl Grundwald, did you Doctor?

- Mr. Grunwald's death was not attributable to the patch.

- He was found wearing two patches at the time

of his death, was he not?

- Yes.

- He was also engaged in an act of sexual congress

at the time of his death, was he not?

- Yes.

- He was also 95 years old at the time of his death.

We should all be so lucky.

[old men laugh]

- How much money is your company spending

to develop this patch, doctor?

- That is both irrelevant and proprietary.

You don't have to answer that.

- I'll get a ruling.

- Get a ruling.

- Until then, doctor, I have no further questions.

- What's your expertise, doctor?

- I'm a psychologist by training.

I specialize in the effects of confinement

as a means of punishment.

- And have you ever had an opportunity

to examine the psychological effects of confinement

at China Lake penitentiary?

- Yes, I have.

I have interviewed 52 of the inmates

there, including Mr. Padrutt.

- And what were your findings?

- That the technologies in use at China Lake

are unparalleled in the history of the American penal system.

The physical layout of the prison,

including the use of intercoms and automatic doors,

ensure that the prisoners will be deprived

of any direct human contact except with the guards that

take them in and out of the cells.

The inmates are given almost nothing

in the way of physical or mental activity to occupy their time.

The lights are kept on at night.

And the meals consist of a processed

nutrient loaf that bears no resemblance to actual food.

The combined effect is one of prolonged sensory deprivation.

- Is that different from solitary confinement

at other prisons?

- Well, yes, it differs both in the degree of the isolation

and the duration of the treatment.

Now at most of these institutions,

a prisoner is rarely kept in solitary

for more than six months.

At China Lake, it can go on for years.

- What's known about the effects of this kind

of prolonged deprivation?

- Well, the best known case studies

we have are of POWs who were kept in isolation

during the Korean War.

Deprived of contact and conversation, many of these men

became psychotic.

- Doctor, would you assess the mental health of the inmates

at China Lake?

- Well, one third of the men I saw are actively psychotic.

Of this group, most experienced visual

and auditory hallucinations.

Several have committed acts of self mutilation.

Two are catatonic.

- And what about the remaining 2/3?

- 85%, including Mr. Padrutt, shows

signs of severe psychological trauma,

including uncontrollable trembling,

sleeplessness, distortions in perception, and panic.

- What, in your opinion, are the prospects for these men being

successfully integrated into a general prison population

or the world outside of prison following

incarceration at China Lake?

- In my opinion, there are no such prospects.

- Thank you, sir.

Nothing further.

- Your evaluation of inmates at China

Lake consisted of interviews, is that right, doctor?

- Yes.

- You would ask inmates if they had various symptoms,

and they would respond affirmatively,

for the most part?

- My interviewing technique is a little more sophisticated

than that, counselor.

I usually can gauge pretty well whether or not

somebody is being truthful.

- Assuming that the problems at China Lake

are what you say they are, what remedies would you propose?

- I recommend that the prison be shut down so that it can be

modified to include common areas,

recreational and educational facilities, and a fully

staffed psychiatric clinic.

- So you would close a $200 million facility,

spend countless additional millions of dollars

on modifications, all so that the most vicious criminals

in the state of California could be

made to feel more comfortable?

- Objection.

- I'm going to allow it.

- It's not a matter of making them more comfortable.

The state of California is running a facility that

not only denies these men the chance at rehabilitation

but effectively destroys their mental capabilities.

Now, I find that unconscionable.

- Well, thank you, doctor.

Your moral outrage is duly noted.

I have nothing further.

- Leland.

- Patrick, my boy, how are you?

- Great.

Great, they told me you were in here.

I just wanted to stick my head in and say hi.

- Well, I'm glad you did.

I got my interview today.

- I know all about it.

- I just wanted to say thanks for everything you've done.

Leland. - Well, what have I done?

We need an associate, you need a job.

- Well, you made it possible for me

to come in and be considered. And I appreciate that.

- Excuse me. Are you Patrick Flanagan?

- Yes. - They're ready for you.

- Great. Which way am I headed?

- Come with me.

- I'll walk you.

This is Denise Iannello.

- How do you do?

- Nice to meet you.

- You still playing squash?

- When I can.

- Patrick was the number-two ranked

squash player at Harvard.

- Is that so?

- Well, it was a weak field when I was there.

[leland laughs]

- You're right in here.

- Thank you.

- Good luck. - Thanks.

- You'll do fine.

- Let me start by saying that we are, all of us,

very impressed with your résumé.

- Thank you.

- We also all know that there are a few things

we need to discuss.

- Yes, there are.

- I'd like to ask you to explain the incident at Harvard.

- I plagiarized a law review article.

What would you like to know?

- How do you explain it?

- It's hard to keep an explanation from sounding

like a justification, and I want very much

for it not to sound like that.

I did what I did because I wanted to fail.

I wanted to self-destruct I could

just as easily have driven my car into oncoming traffic.

- Has the impulse passed?

- It feels like it has.

I ended up taking some time off from school,

albeit not voluntarily, and I thought about myself.

I ended up going to a psychiatrist

for the first time in my life.

I took stock of myself.

All I can say is that I'm a very different

person at 27 than I was at 21.

- There's another matter we need to discuss,

and this happened only a year ago.

You represented a plaintiff in a whistleblower suit

and had your case dismissed because

of falsified lab reports?

Say it ain't so, Joe.

- I'll say it ain't so.

I'll say it to my dying day.

Those falsified lab reports were planted

by the defendant corporation.

Unfortunately, I couldn't prove that,

and the judge bought that I was responsible.

One day, I hope I can prove it.

- And then, there's the matter of Daniel Morales.

- You and he had a bit of a contretemps.

- I'm sure you've heard the events

recounted by Mr. Morales.

I would offer up a somewhat different interpretation.

Both our clients were on trial for armed robbery and murder.

He represented his.

I represented mine.

- He claims that you induced your client

to turn state's evidence.

- The state induced him.

They offered him parole.

- He claims you put your client on the stand

knowing he was going to lie.

- I didn't know he was going to lie.

I don't know that he did lie.

- Should you come to work here, Mr. Flanagan,

this is a matter that you and Mr. Morales

will need to settle.

- Mr. Morales has thus far refused to talk to me.

- You may want to make additional efforts.

- Mr. Carr--

- Call me Buzz.

- Buzz, are you aware that since the beginning of this study

the Golden Pines residents have lodged 15 complaints against

you and your co-defendants?

- From those without the patch, no doubt.

[giggles]

- Some of these complaints were from women.

- I haven't had any complaints.

Have you, Dwight?

- No, but I have had a few marriage proposals.

- Mr. Carr, is that your signature?

- Yes, yes, that looks like it.

- That would indicate your familiarity

with the bylaws of the community in which you live.

- Do I give her that?

- Just tell her the truth, Buzz.

- All right.

Yes, I am familiar with the bylaws.

- On October 10, 1993, did not you and your two friends here

take over a square-dance class and attempt to lead your female

partners in the Lambada?

- Oh, oh, yes, we did.

- And a fine lambada it was, too.

- And did not two of those females faint on that occasion?

- Oh, no.

[laughs] What they did was swoon.

- I believe fibrillate would be closer to the truth.

- I would ask that your client not interject, Ms. Korshak?

- They interject; why can't I interject?

- I would ask that no one interject.

- Let me ask you something, dear.

Don't you think we should be able to decide for ourselves

what kind of recreational activities

we can engage in without being dictated to?

- Mr. Kroft--

- Unless of course, a minx such as yourself

were interested in doing the dictating.

- This is depraved.

This is utterly depraved.

- Spare us the sanctimony, Mr. Overvald.

- No kidding, if we were in our '30s, or '40s, or '50s, it

wouldn't be depraved, would it?

- There are rules that govern conduct in our community.

- Well, to hell with your rules.

We're not living in a ding-dang gulong.

We're living in the USA!

- Gentlemen, the fact is there are rules.

And these rules are legal and enforceable.

And notwithstanding the fact that you

are three very attractive men with testosterone surging,

in the end, your options are to adjust or move.

- You are wicked.

- Clearly, we have a difference of opinion.

- It's also quite impossible for us to move.

- Why is that?

- Because you've got all our money tied up,

you little squint.

Between your entrance fees and your rent,

we can't afford to move.

- Yeah, and if it weren't for what we make selling patches,

we could hardly get by.

- You have been selling patches?

- I believe that's a felony, Douglas.

- I'll need some time to confer with my clients.

- Take all the time you want.

As far as I'm concerned, this deposition is over.

I'll be in front of a judge tomorrow seeking an injunction.

Good day, gentlemen.

- Drug traffickers.

And to think that at one time I had hoped to make you,

Dwight, the master of ceremonies at our pageant.

- How does a prisoner wind up in the security housing unit

at China Lake, warden?

- He proves himself to be unmanageable at other prisons.

- Characteristically, how would he do that?

- He'd kill someone, he'd traffic in drugs,

he'd make himself a threat to the rest

of the prison population.

- The security housing unit at China Lake

employs technology and prison design

not found in other prisons. Is that right?

- Yes.

- And what, to your mind, is the effect of that?

- The most significant effect is that not a single prisoner

or guard has been killed since the unit's been in operation.

- Why is it necessary to isolate these men?

- To protect them.

These men have demonstrated that they can't function

in a group environment.

- Do you acknowledge that some prisoners

may be psychologically damaged by the conditions in the SHU?

- I would argue that most prisoners

are psychologically damaged in one form or another

to begin with.

I will acknowledge that it's not particularly pleasant to be

incarcerated in the SHU.

But I'd also argue that there's no one there who

doesn't deserve to be there.

- I have no further questions.

- It's fair to say, is it not, warden, that you've pretty

much abandoned any pretense of providing

a means of rehabilitation for these men, yes?

- Rehabilitation requires a certain minimal level

of cooperation on the part of the prisoner.

These men, thus far, have not demonstrated that.

- And according to you, the nature

of the operation at the SHU is dictated

by what they have demonstrated. - That's right.

- All right, prisoners are allowed in the yard for 90

minutes a day, is that right? - Yes.

- Are they recreational activities of any kind

available to them in the yard?

- I don't know what constitutes a recreational activity

to your mind. - Are there weights in the yard?

- No. - Why aren't there weights?

- Weights can be made into weapons.

- Is there a basketball or handball in the yard?

- No, there isn't.

- Why isn't there?

- They can also be made into weapons.

And if you doubt that, I suggest you talk to your client.

I'm sure he'd tell you exactly how he'd do it.

- Objection.

I ask that the latter part of the witness's response

be stricken. - So stricken.

- Warden, isn't the mental deterioration of prisoners

the express purpose of the SHU at China Lake?

- No, it is not.

- You do understand it to be the inevitable and proximate

result of incarceration there, though do you not?

- I understand no such thing.

- Isn't this prison designed for one thing only, sir?

Isn't it to make it as easy as possible for you

to store these men?

- I've worked in the prison system

for 19 years, Mr. Rollins.

There wasn't a single day in all that time

that I would call what I did easy.

When I was a guard, I took it as a personal failure

to have a prisoner die on my watch.

I felt it was my responsibility to see

to it that prisoners stayed alive for the entire length

of their sentence.

I still feel that way.

Now, I don't fail nearly as often.

[transitory instrumental music]

- All right, Ms. Korshak.

I've read your motion.

You have something to add?

- Your honor, in addition to the disruptive incidents

referred to in my brief, we have reason

to believe the defendants have been

peddling these testosterone patches to other residents

of Golden Pines.

We ask the court to enjoin this study

immediately to cut off distribution

of this illicit testosterone.

- Your honor, there's absolutely no evidence of any trafficking.

Enjoining the study would be a drastic overreaction and

grossly unfair to my clients.

- These patches constitute controlled

substances, your honor.

Their wreaking havoc on the community,

and we have no idea what the long-range side effects are.

- I'm 82 years old, missy.

How long range should I be concerned about?

- That's quite enough, Mr. Nordoff.

- Can I say something, judge?

- Go ahead.

- Yeah, well, before we got our patches,

Harold, Dwight, and I were just three lonely old men

sitting around waiting to die.

- Yeah, the patch opened our eyes.

It restored us.

It made our lives less lonesome.

- We're begging you, judge.

Take away our Motrin, take away our digitalis,

even our Milk of Magnesia, but for God's sakes,

do not take away our patches.

- If you men are trafficking in a controlled substance,

you can and will be prosecuted.

Since there is no evidence of such activity,

I deny plaintiff's motion to enjoin the study.

The eviction notice will continue as scheduled.

We stand adjourned.

- Very well said.

- Your honor, the defense calls Elizabeth Rowe.

- Objection, your honor.

The testimony of this witness is wholly irrelevant.

- What is this witness here to testify to, Mr. Clay?

- Your Honor, Ms. Roe witnessed the killing of her father

at the hands of Mr. Padrutt 19 years ago.

She's flown here at her own expense

to testify to the nature of that crime.

- Testimony about a crime committed

prior to Mr. Padrutt's confinement is irrelevant.

Objection sustained.

Call your next witness.

- The defense calls Roland Prince.

- Objection.

[sigh] The testimony of this witness is wholly irrelevant.

- Is Mr. Prince also here to testify to events prior

to Mr. Padrutt's incarceration?

- Yes, your honor.

His sister was killed by Mr. Padrutt.

- Objection is sustained.

Call your next witness.

- The defense calls Dorothy White.

- Objection, irrelevant.

- Mr. Clay.

- She was assaulted by Mr. Padrutt.

- Objection sustained.

Call your next witness.

- The defense calls Trent Ma.

- Objection.

Irrelevant.

- Counsel will approach the bench.

Are all your remaining witnesses crime victims, Mr. Clay?

- Yes, your honor.

They're here to testify to the nature of crimes

committed by Mr. Padrutt and other men who

are now being held--

- OK, what you're doing is grandstanding.

I'm not impressed.

It does not help your case.

The testimony of all of these witnesses

is inadmissible and irrelevant.

What you have done is waste the time of this court and the time

and the money of these people who showed up here.

I submit that you owe all of them an apology.

Step back.

- Well, Inez, we know something about you from your résumé,

but perhaps it would be best if you

told us yourself about the kind of work you've been doing.

- I've been working in a storefront legal clinic

in East LA.

I've done mostly immigration, landlord tenant, and criminal.

Primarily, I'm a trial lawyer.

- You've handled some pretty major appeals.

- Yes, I have.

- How come you're leaving?

- We had a rough year last year.

Our budget was cut.

They closed our office doors.

- How do you feel about doing types of law other

than what you've been doing?

- I feel good about it.

It's one of the reasons I want to work in a firm

like this is that I hope to try other types of cases.

- You see yourself as a trial lawyer?

- Yes.

- Are you prepared to serve second chair while

another lawyer tries the case?

- Absolutely.

- Are you prepared to spend the vast majority

of your time doing work that has no political

significance whatsoever?

- That's an odd question.

- Well, it's not an odd question at all.

You worked in a legal clinic at East LA.

I'm sure you derived a great deal

of professional gratification from handling

cases that were in concert with your political beliefs.

- You weren't doing it for the money.

- My question is, how happy would you be here?

- I think I could be very happy here, Mr. Brackman.

I'm interested in acquiring a certain credibility

as an attorney that currently I feel myself to be lacking.

I'd be making considerably more money than I'm used to making.

And I also know something about this firm from Daniel Morales.

I know the kind of cases you take on.

I think I know the kind of people you are.

This is where I want to work.

- Fair enough.

- The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution

says that cruel and unusual punishment

shall not be inflicted.

It codifies what we very much like

to believe about ourselves, that that we have evolved,

that no matter how much we may revile an individual, no matter

how heinous may be their crime.

We don't torture them.

We don't use the rack, or the whip, or the thumb screw.

We, as a society, have come to believe

those devices to be immoral.

And so our Constitution makes them illegal.

Your honor, the use of psychological torture, as found

in the security housing unit at China Lake,

is no less immoral and no less illegal.

You have heard uncontroverted expert

testimony that 30% of the prisoners

there are clinically psychotic.

You've also heard expert testimony

that what brought about this mastocytosis is

the conditions at the prison.

Now, assuming that those conditions don't evoke

a sense of moral outrage, there are

still practical considerations.

Most of the men at the SHU will one day finish their sentences.

And when they do, we, as a society,

will have to deal with them.

We will either maintain them in psychiatric hospitals,

or we'll put them back on the streets.

And we will soon find out what this latest prison

technology has made them into.

Your honor, I'm asking the court to declare the conditions

and procedures at the China Lake Prison security housing unit

cruel and unusual punishment.

I would ask the court to shut it down.

- Your honor, China Lake is a success.

Tom Padrutt and the other inmates in the security housing

unit there have demonstrated their inability

to live in the society of other men,

even in the controlled environment

of a maximum security prison.

Attempts to rehabilitate them have failed.

They are the most violent, most dangerous,

most incorrigible inmates in the entire prison system.

And somehow, the prison system must deal with them.

China Lake offers the safest, best, most

economically feasible solution.

Now, is there psychological damage?

No doubt there is.

It comes with the territory.

Commit heinous crimes on the street,

continue committing heinous crimes in prison,

and we will do that which is necessary to counteract

your ability to commit crime.

We will put you in a place like this,

and we will be safe from you.

- Come on, just wait a second.

- Not a minute too soon.

- Officer, I'm the attorney for these men.

Please advise me as to what's going on.

- It's been alleged that these gentlemen

have been selling a controlled substance, counselor.

We have no choice but to bring them in.

- Who alleged this?

- Monroe, who else?

- We searched the units of several other residents here.

We found testosterone patches.

We questioned the residents.

They said they purchased it from these gentlemen here.

- They ratted us out.

- Please put your hands behind your back, sir.

I have to handcuff you.

- Come on.

- Wait.

those patches don't contain testosterone?

- What?

- Who are you?

- I'm Dr. Kendall Gratz.

I'm conducting the clinical trials.

Those patches are placebos.

- What do you mean placebos?

Every clinical trial has a control group.

In this trial, you're it.

- You mean, we haven't been getting the real thing?

- We'll need a statement to that effect, doctor.

- I'll give you a statement.

I also have full documentation.

- But what about--

you know?

- Yeah, we--

- The mind can be a powerful aphrodisiac, Mr. Carr.

- I'll talk to Lorraine Korshak.

We'll see what effect this has on the eviction proceedings.

- Well, shoot.

- Where you going?

- I'm going to go lay down.

- I think I'll do the same.

Come on, Dwight.

- Where you going?

[two knocks]

- Two minutes, that's all I'm asking.

- What do you want?

- I want to see if I can clear the air.

- Man, we have nothing to talk about.

- Well, with all due respect, I don't think that's right.

- You're going to tell me what's right?

- No, what I would ask, though, is that you at least

consider the possibility that I didn't do what you think I did.

- Patrick, I have a client doing 20

to life in a maximum security prison

because your client lied on the witness stand.

- What, are you saying your client was innocent?

- I'm saying he never would have been convicted of felony murder

if it hadn't been for that particular testimony.

- I don't see it that way.

- Like I said, we have nothing to talk about.

- So what do you propose we do?

- I propose we stay as far away from each other as possible.

- Well, that may be a problem if I come to work here.

- Yeah, well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

- Tell me something, do your partners know how you feel?

- Oh, yes, they do.

- It's a little surprising I'm still being considered.

- Right, I'm coming.

Whatever we're here to do, let's do it quick.

I've got a set spa scheduled for 130.

- They faxed over the terms of the agreement.

They'll be here any minute.

And we need to discuss this.

Dwight, have a seat, please.

- Thank you.

- I strongly advise against you signing this.

- Well, we are going to sign it, Doug.

- Let me tell you what's here.

In exchange for them dropping the eviction proceedings,

you agree to no parties without written permission

from the management, no music after 9:00 PM,

no tight jeans, no Spandex bicycle shorts, no cruising

in electric golf carts--

- Douglas, it doesn't make any difference.

Let's sign the paper and be done with this.

- Guys, we can go to court and win.

They have no right to impose these rules on you.

- We don't want to make waves.

They want things to be quiet; let them be quiet.

- Explain something to me.

You find out that you've been getting a placebo,

and suddenly you want to fold your hands

and file in like good little boys?

What's the story?

- The story is we're old.

- You were old yesterday.

You were old the day before yesterday.

You were also studs.

- We were under the illusion that we

were receiving medication.

- You don't need the medication.

You had the desire to be a bunch of sharpsters,

and that's what you were.

You didn't want to be physically decrepit, and you weren't.

The fact that those patches were placebos is good news, boys.

It means that you can go back to being studs.

- Good morning.

- I assume you received the documents?

- Yes, I have.

- Good.

And are they acceptable?

- Not as far as I'm concerned, they're not.

- Are they acceptable to your clients?

- You'll have to ask them.

- OK.

Gentlemen, what'll it be?

Harold?

- Well, as a matter of fact, I do have a question.

That rule that says we've got to have written

permission before we can have a party, well,

what constitutes a party?

- I think you can assume standard usage of the word.

- So if, for instance, I were to meet,

let's say, a woman like you, and I struck up a conversation,

and one thing led to another, and you came back to my place,

and I put on my Charlie Rich records,

and we had a couple of drinks.

And after a while, you turned to me and said,

Charlie Rich or no Charlie Rich, you're the silver fox as far

as I'm concerned, and the patients took a hold of us,

would that constitute a party?

- That would not be acceptable behavior.

- Then, to hell with it.

- That's right.

Douglas, you do whatever you have to do.

- And I say we go to court.

- Fine.

- You are willing to go to court over this?

- In a red-hot minute.

[laughs]

- It's horrifying to consider that an institution whose

highest aim is the rehabilitation of men

could actually be subjecting some of those same men

to conditions that drive them insane.

What's even more horrifying is the thought

that those conditions may be necessary to save lives

and to allow that institution to survive.

From the evidence presented, it's quite clear to me

that many of the inmates of China Lake

are psychologically being harmed by the prison.

It's equally clear that the prison system

has legitimate security needs.

And to meet those needs, it may be

necessary to place Tom Padrutt and men like him in isolation.

There's nothing in our Constitution

that prohibits a special unit for the dangerous,

incorrigible offender.

Therefore, I deny the plaintiffs petition.

I find in favor of the defendant.

This court's adjourned.

- Tom, we'll appeal.

- I don't think so, Jonathan.

- Just give me a minute.

Please, Tom, Tom, it's not costing you anything.

You're in prison.

Let me just work on the appeal.

- By the time you're ready to go back into court

again, I'll be as crazy as the rest of them.

- Hold the elevator, please.

- Yeah.

- What are you doing?

- We want to say something.

- This isn't the way to do that.

- This is the way we're doing it.

- OK, what do you want to say?

- We want you to hear from us the kind of man you represent.

- I don't make any apologies for the kind of man--

- He killed my father in front of me.

- He killed my sister because he wanted her car.

- If you appeal this case, we'll be

right there in the courtroom.

- Whether we're allowed to testify or not.

- Any attempt to restore to this man any freedom at all,

we'll be there, and we'll bear witness.

[elevator begins moving]

- This shouldn't take very long.

We just need to put the two candidates to a vote.

- Before we do that, I'd like to say something.

- By all means.

- I think Inez Garcia would make a great addition to this firm.

She's smart, she's principled, she's got

all kinds of trial experience.

Plus, I've known her since she was a kid,

and I can vouch for her character.

That said, I would urge you whether or not

you vote to hire Inez, not to hire Patrick Flanagan.

- Because of what he did to you?

- Because what he did to me is indicative of what he does.

- I'm not sure that's altogether fair.

- Check his track record.

Plagiarism in law school, fabricating evidence

in one case, suborning perjury in another?

- He would argue that there are legitimate explanations

for these things.

- Of course, he would.

Guys like that always do.

It doesn't change the fact that there

has been a pattern of treachery to his entire life.

- Since I have known this young man, for his entire life,

let me weigh in with what I think.

Patrick did plagiarize a law review article.

He was young, he had problems, and he did it.

And he also paid for having done it.

He was suspended from the university, he took off a year,

and he came back and graduated in the top 10% of his class.

- What about since then?

None of us can prove that he fabricated evidence.

And we can't prove, none of us can prove,

that he suborned perjury.

To exclude him on the basis of any of these charges

strikes me as manifestly unfair.

- And we can only hire one of them.

- Oh, we can definitely only hire one.

- Let's put it to a vote.

Inez Garcia.

- Yes.

- I vote yes.

- I also have Jonathan Rollins' proxy.

He votes yes as well.

- I vote no.

- Also no.

- No.

- I don't feel comfortable voting on this.

I haven't been here long enough.

I abstain.

- 4 to 3 against.

Patrick Flanagan?

- I vote Yes.

- Yes.

- Also yes.

- You're going to abstain this time too, right, Eli?

- Right.

- You're going to fall in line behind Leland McKenzie.

- Well, he is owed a certain amount of deference, Daniel.

- He's not owed this.

- The vote's been taken.

Should an opportunity arise again,

I suggest we do go after Inez.

- As far as I'm concerned, there won't be a next time.

- What does that mean?

- That means I quit.

- Oh, come on, Daniel.

- Save your breath.

[emotional breath] I don't want to work for a firm

that does what this firm just did.

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