Felon

[Rocket35]

This movie was being filmed in Sante Fe when I was in the Corrections Academy. The facilities are right behind the Academy and Central Office buildings. The riot in the beginning of the film was filmed in the "old main" which is now shutdown and is actually Hollywood property. The rest of the film was filmed in the "new main" at the Penitentiary of New Mexico.

I thought it was a pretty good dipiction of life "inside" with the exception of the gambling of fights between the officers. And it was pretty cool to be able to tour the old main and be on the set of a movie in the making. Although I didn't see any actors, I did see some pretty horrible remains of carnage from the 1980 riot. There was the silhouette of a body from burn residue where one inmate was burned to death and chips in the concrete where another was beheaded with a shovel.

Here is a little info of why the "old main" was shutdown:

The New Mexico Penitentiary Riot, which took place on February 3, 1980 in the state's maximum security prison south of Santa Fe, was one of the most violent prison riots in the history of the American correctional system: 33 inmates were killed, and more than 100 inmates were treated for injuries. Though 12 guards were taken hostage, none were killed, but seven were treated for injuries suffered during beatings and rapes. Author Roger Morris in The Devil's Butcher Shop: The New Mexico Prison Uprising (University of New Mexico Press, 1988) suggests the death toll may have been higher, as a number of bodies were incinerated or dismembered during the course of the mayhem.

Edited October 1, 2008 by Rocket35

[BBoyle]

I liked the movie but I know it was not realistic at all. I know that there are some Officers that are not that professional but the LT in that was worse than the inmates. What I didn't like about the movie was that I almost found myself rooting for the main character inmate. I hate to do that!

It is cool when the film crews come into your facility. I got to see some of Hurricane, He got game, and Oceans 10? all get filmed at my old jail.

[JKSNIPER]

My brother in law is a C.O. LT at a facility and the depiction of them as brutal and corrupt is no more accurate about 99% of the C.O.s then it is about 99% of the cops when they show corrupt cops in the movies. I just wish they would make it clear in the movies that the majority of them are hardworking and dedicated people and not the bad apples you see depicted.

Guy I work with was a C.O. supervising the mess hall at Ossining when a riot started. He was struck with a metal tray in the head in the beginning on the riot and was unconscious for the entire thing. The inmates that worked under him in the mess hall actually protected him from harm by moving im under the chow line and shielding him from other inmates because Fred was a decent guy that did not go out of his way to mess with the inmates.

JK

[HSMITH]

My cousin was in the National Guard and was called up during that riot, he was screwed up for years (and might still be) after seeing what he saw when they went in and put the riot down.