After watching the movie Rubaker it made me realize that everything we have read and heard about in class was true, I knew it was true but that movie gave a better visual. In the movie Rubaker the prisoners were treated very inhumanly, they were fed slop with magnets in it, beaten for no reason and were worked like dogs it was not until Rubaker showed up that things started to change. But the change did not come easy due to constant outside and inside interference from the local and state politicians along side with some inmates. Rubaker was fighting a loosing battle. .
The prisoners were worked from the time they woke up to the time they were allowed to go to bed. Instead of the prisoners working on getting there G.E.D s like they do now they worked in lumber yards they were part of the contract labor system (A.C pg.333) The warden was only concerned with how much he himself could pocket. It did not matter to the warden that the men had to pay for there own food and even the medical attention that they would receive if any at all. Rubaker changed that, he no longer allowed the prisoners to be sold out and he also got a permanent physician. The prisoners worked the crops on prison land then ate it and sold it, this is what is called the state use system. (A.C pg.335).
There were also not any rehabilitation programs to make the prisoners feel as if they mattered or had some common goal to work for. Rubaker then decided to have prison counsel made up of prisoners elected by other prisoners then they were able to meet and discuss problems that were going on within there prison and try to work together to find a solution. .
The local towns people and politicians did everything they could do deter any progress that Rubaker was trying to make. I myself have also thought that If somebody committed a crime especially murder that they deserve what ever punishment they got, but after watching this movie I disagree with myself.
