The Shawshank Redemption - Death of Brooks Hatlen
The Shawshank Redemption - Death of Brooks Hatlen
Among the many issues raised by the film, The Shawshank Redemption, the possibility of leaving prison and rejoining society after an extensive period of time. In the film, we see the words “Brooks Was Here” carved into a wooden overhang with a pocket knife of an aged ex-con was the culmination of the side story of Brooks Hatlen, released after a sentence at Shawshank State Prison, spanning nearly 50 years 1905 to 1954.
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His eventual suicide forces audiences to grapple with the notion of returning to society after lengthy incarcerations.
Specifically, his suicide makes manifestly heartfelt the notion Morgan Freeman’s character, who’s name is Red, refers to as becoming “institutionalized”, meaning adjusted to life within an institution apart from a larger society, from which release represents essentially capital punishment. News of the suicide of Brooks Hatlen wrestles the desire of prisoners to leave or escape prison life and perplexes them about their own fate, instilling fear and anxiety about the outside world.
In the film, Brooks meets an outside world that has vastly changed from his memories and is unable to adjust to life on the outside. After being paroled, he attempts to harm is friend, Heywood, in order to stay in prison. After finding it very difficult out in the world, he longs to break his parole so they'd send him back. We as an audience are forced to wonder is this not a glimpse into the underlying causes of recidivism, for the fact that so many prisoners return to prison within a short span after release.
According to the National Institute of Justice, in 2014, about two-thirds of released prisoners are returned to prison. And three-quarters are rearrested within five years. Further, more than half of the prisoners returned to prison were rearrested by the end of the first year of release.
Support networks have been developed to reintroduce prisoners into society; however, these results are far from positive. I wonder what additional steps could make a difference? I imagine some people think these results are inevitable.
Before you answer or respond negatively, please Click Here for my post: Returned to Society after 44 Years In Prison.
This is the popular story of Otis Johnson and is a very positive and uplifting alternative to Brooks in Shawshank Redemption. It proves that hope, in fact, is a good thing, perhaps the best of things.
For my Busy.org review of the classic film The Shawshank Redemption, click here