It tells the story of death row supervisor Paul Edgecombe's encounter with John Coffey, an unusual inmate who displays inexplicable healing and empathetic abilities.

[3] Featuring a first-person narrative told by Paul Edgecombe, the novel switches between Paul as an old man in the Georgia Pines nursing home writing down his story in 1996, and his time in 1932 as the block supervisor of the Cold Mountain Penitentiary death row, nicknamed "The Green Mile" for the color of the floor's linoleum.

This year marks the arrival of John Coffey, a 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) tall powerfully built black man who has been convicted of raping and murdering two young white girls.

Other inhabitants include Arlen Bitterbuck, a Native American convicted of killing a man in a fight over a pair of boots, Arthur Flanders, a real estate executive who killed his father to perpetrate insurance fraud; and Mr Jingles, a mouse Del teaches various tricks.

When Percy is offered an administrative position at the nearby Briar Ridge psychiatric hospital, Paul thinks they are finally rid of him.

Percy deliberately avoids soaking a sponge in brine that is supposed to be tucked inside the electrode cap to ensure a quick death in the electric chair.

When the switch is thrown, the current causes Del to catch fire in the chair and suffer a prolonged, agonizing demise.

One night, the guards drug Wharton, then put a straitjacket on Percy and lock him in the padded restraint room so that they can smuggle John out of prison and take him to the home of Warden Hal Moores.

When they return to the Mile, John passes the "disease" from Melinda into Percy, causing him to go mad and shoot Wharton to death before falling into a catatonic state from which he never recovers.

Released in 1999, the film was directed by Darabont and stars Tom Hanks as Paul Edgecombe and Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey.