An Innocent Man

An Innocent Man (1989)

1 corrected entry

(2 votes)

Corrected entry: Detective Parnell ends up in prison at the end of the film and is shown being led through to the general prison population. This never, ever happens. Ex police officers (and prison guards) who are sentenced to prison terms are always put in protective segregation. There are no exceptions and the prisoner cannot request they be allowed into the general population - it just doesn't happen.

Correction: This is a persistent urban myth, and it is wrong. If possible an ex-police officer or prison guard will be incarcerated in another state, well away from the scene of the crime. If that isn't possible they can request they be assigned to Administrative Segregation but they do not have to. They can request they be admitted to the general prison population, and most do. Drew Walter Peterson (look him up) probably wishes he hadn't as he got clobbered by a disgruntled inmate wielding a meal tray.

A better example is that of Michael Rudkin, a former corrections officer sentenced to 10 years for having sex with a female inmate. He tried to hire an inmate to arrange the murder of his ex-wife, the female inmate, his ex-wife's boyfriend and the federal investigator prosecuting him. He had ninety years added to his sentence. In August 2004 he tried to arrange the murders again, and this time the inmate he approached responded by beating him to death.

Factual error: At the end of the film Rainwood has established his innocence of the drug charges and is happily back at work as a senior mechanic for a large airline. However, part of the sentencing and plea bargain protocols at his arraignment is his previous conviction on a lesser drug charge years before. It goes without saying that he did not advise his employers of this when he started work for them - no airline in the world (even pre 9/11) would hire someone with a drug conviction on their record! Now this is out in the open the airline knows that Rainwood is a convicted drug user (on the lesser, legitimate charge) and that he lied on his original job application. They wouldn't hire him again to sweep the floors.

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Suggested correction: Even today in 2023 felony convictions might not show up on a background check. Not all information has been uploaded to the internet yet. It was extremely easy in the 1980's for a conviction to be missed by a background check especially if there was no prison time served or it occurred in a rural county or town.

He just got out of prison and establishing his innocence involved the violent deaths of at least two people. Do you not think that his employers just might have followed his story? He'd be all over the news media. The idea that not one person would have followed up on his criminal history is beyond absurd - we are talking about a safety critical job that involves the safety of hundreds of people.

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