Word: murton
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...good he did the prisoners at Tucker, and for all the good he might have done at Cummins, Murton still has no regrets about revealing the murders, the incident that led to his dismissal. "Murder is non-negotiable," he says passionately. "Inmates don't care what you say, they watch what you do. Once I knew about those murders, I was an accomplice unless I made some effort to unearth them, even if that meant losing my job. They couldn't have trusted me anymore...
Trust was an essential part of Murton's reform program. "Animals respond as addressed. Other organisms do too. Some of those prisoners--most--had more integrity than the officers." Murton insisted on eating with his prisoners, dressing in work clothes and supervising them personally in the fields, even encouraging his wife to work as a volunteer among the inmates...
...success was short-lived and Murton remains bitter about the state of American prisons. "You don't put a duck in a sandbox to improve his swimming. You can't reform with this system. How is a prisoner supposed to learn democracy and decision-making in a totalitarian, fascist system? And then everyone's surprised when an ex-con fails and winds up back in prison...
...Murton hopes Brubaker, which fictionalizes his experiences in a prison that represents a composite of Tucker and Cummins, may help his crusade. With his story "immortalized on screen by Big Bob," he thinks more people may act to promote prison reform. He notes that the film makes a 4-1 reduction in the pressures and horrors of a warden...
...fact, Redford plays Murton with quiet aplomb. It is not a particularly demanding role; anyone can look horrified by the abuses at the Arkansas prison. And the abuses reel by in living color: whippings, rapes, tortures and murders, all preparation for the true-to-life discovery of coffins in the prison field...