The WardenIf you ever end up in prison... pray that Warden Norton is not who you have to answer to. Mr. Norton is involved in an extreme amount of corruption; from money laundering to murder. Mr. Norton rolled out a program called "Inside Out" which dealt with inmates doing labor outside of the prison. While this may seem like a philanthropic effort, this is far from the truth. Mr. Norton cut costs to taxpayers by making the labor so cheap, that it was essentially a self sustaining entity. This allowed the Warden to be able to undercut contractors for jobs, and kept a large supply of money flowing into his pockets. This is where Andy comes into the picture; with his background in banking and accounting, the Warden solicited his services for a money laundering service in which Andy hides the money in stocks/securities/tax-free municipals etc. under a fake-person's name (Andy had social security cards, birth certificate etc. for this fake person). As if that isn't bad enough, the warden is also involved in more shady business... When the new inmates arrive at Shawshank, Mr. Norton says to them regarding the rules of the prison, "rule number one, no blasphemy. The other rules, you'll figure out as you go along". Shortly thereafter, the captain of the guards beats one of the new inmates to death. This shows that, the rules "as you go along" have no legal or ethical characteristics. The rules are simply what the Warden wants them to be, with no respect for the law or any other person or entity. He send his orders down the chain of command, and the captain of guards (mainly; along with some of the other guards at unpredictable times) carries them out. One of these orders includes the murder of one of the inmates, Tommy. Tommy tells Andy that he knows of his innocence, and how one of his former cell mates is the one who committed the murders that Andy is accused of. When Andy went to the Warden with this information, he completely dismissed it. When Andy tried to challenge the status quo and challenge the warden subsequently, the Warden became enraged. He responded by putting Andy in two months of solitary confinement (the longest the prison had ever seen; without a doubt an 8th amendment violation) along with having the captain kill Tommy for saying he would testify on Andy's behalf in court. To see the aforementioned corruption firsthand, see part of the scene in the video linked below. Also below, we will analyze this corruption further to try and understand the reasoning behind why it is able to happen.
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