Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951)

Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison is a 1951 drama film starring Steve Cochran and David Brian. Set in Folsom State Prison in California, the film was seen both in the United States and Europe.

Country singer Johnny Cash saw this movie while serving in the United States Air Force in West Germany in 1952, and used it as an inspiration for his hit song "Folsom Prison Blues," which he recorded numerous times between 1955 and his death in 2003.

The film was featured in the 2005 biographical film Walk the Line, in which Cash (played by Joaquin Phoenix) and other Air Force personnel are depicted seeing the film.

Synopsis

During 1920s, before the 1944 California prison reform, Warden Ben Rickey (Ted De Corsia) rules Folsom Prison with ruthless control. He believes that prisons should be used more for punishing the captive convicts, rather than using the time that they would spend behind the walls of the prison as an opportunity to reform their unruly behavior and repeated returns to a life behind bars. His methods of control are violent, torturous, and meant to beat the prisoners into submission.

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