Based on actual facts, the story of Henri Young (Kevin Bacon) starts as he is stealing five dollars from a grocery that doubles as a United States Post Office. He and his sister are starving, and...

Based on actual facts, the story of Henri Young (Kevin Bacon) starts as he is stealing five dollars from a grocery that doubles as a United States Post Office. He and his sister are starving, and dirt poor. He gets caught, and instead of petty theft, is charged for a federal crime for stealing from a post office and sent on to Alcatraz with the killers and rapists. After an attempt at escape goes wrong, the young man is sent to the dungeon, for solitary confinement. What is only supposed to be a nineteen day stay maximum, turns into a nightmarish three years with episodes of torture from the guards and the warden. Upon his release back into the general population, he is in a state of psychosis, almost a savage, from no interaction except beatings for the last three years. He gets scared by a fellow inmate and stabs him in the neck with a utensil in the cafeteria. Now on trial for murder, James Stamphill enters his life and is the lone crusader on his behalf. Instead of it being a throwaway case, James takes on all of the evils of the Alcatraz underworld. For the first time, Henri Young has a friend in his corner. Watch as they battle for freedom.