It stars Robert Redford as a newly arrived prison warden, Henry Brubaker, who attempts to clean up a corrupt and violent penal system.
The film features a large supporting cast, including Yaphet Kotto, Jane Alexander, Murray Hamilton, David Keith, Tim McIntire, Matt Clark, M. Emmet Walsh, Everett McGill and an early appearance by Morgan Freeman.
Eddie Caldwell, a sadistic trustee, takes notice, and he, Purcell, and Rauch lure Abraham to the medical ward, where he is tortured with a Tucker Telephone.
The morning after the prison board meeting, Brubaker awakes and discovers Abraham's body suspended from the warden's residence flagpole.
While excavating the area Abraham disclosed to him, Brubaker discovers multiple unmarked graves which contain bodies of prisoners who died violently.
Brubaker walks in and makes a comment about saving taxpayer money by shooting prisoners rather than sending them to Wakefield, which enrages Deach.
A pre-credits title card reads: Two years after Henry Brubaker was fired -- 24 inmates, led by Richard "Dickie" Coombes, brought suit against Wakefield Prison.
The film is based on the real-life experiences of warden Thomas Murton, co-author with Joe Hyams of the 1969 book, Accomplices to the Crime: The Arkansas Prison Scandal.
[7] Angola's solitary confinement block, which had no air conditioning and had the highest suicide rates in the United States, was closed in 2018 after a 2013 lawsuit.
Rafelson filed a breach-of-contract and slander lawsuit in May 1979 asking for damages of $10 million, claiming that Fox had assured him that he would have complete autonomy and creative control and had made statements that implied that he was incompetent, emotionally unstable, and not qualified to direct a major motion picture.
The opening scenes of the prison bus departure show the skyline and a view up South Front Street in Columbus.
Brubaker is a well-crafted film that does a harrowingly effective job of portraying the details of its prison, but then it populates it with positions rather than people.