The judge Annibale is an incorruptible magistrate of Rome which, although close to retirement, does not intend to show any sign of weakness. He continues his severe work and continues feeding without pity all the poor people that comes within range, including of course the criminals. All his colleagues admire him, including his girlfriend with whom he is to marry. But also an honest judge and moralist like Annibale has secrets. In fact he, in addition to his life full of lies and worldliness, has entered into an agreement with an American mafia boss: Corrado Parisi. In fact, Annibale was forced against his will to accept the assignment to not send to jail the whole company of the boss, who is preparing a shady traffic. Annibale eventually tries to rebel, but can not make it in time for the television journalists discover it. Comments are added to the scandal of the best friends of Annibale and his esteemed colleagues of the court immediately condemn him as the worst of all parasites. The life of Annibale is destroyed in one fell swoop.
William Jordan (Howard) is befriended by the man who sent him to prison on a manslaughter charge, former DA now prison warden Matthews (Connolly). In order to give Jordan the opportunity to rehabilitate himself Matthews allows him to work as chauffeur to his daughter Elizabeth (Parker), though he's a bit uncomfortable when Elizabeth falls in love with the young convict. All of this extra effort goes out the window when Jordan, adhering to the "criminal code" of never snitching on a fellow con, allows himself to be implicated in the murder of another convict. Jordan is saved from the death penalty by a last-minute confession of his hard-bitten but honorable cellmate.
In a death row cell block nine inmates are scheduled for execution. Then "Killer" John Mears (Rooney) comes along. His viciousness infects the environment and his plans to break out of prison are the catalyst for tragedy.
September 4, 1985. Kim Jong-tae (Park Won-sang), 37, a prominent activist against the military dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan and onetime commissioner of the Youth Federation for Democracy, is arrested and taken to a special interrogation facility in Namyeong-dong, a district in the center of Seoul synonymous with political torture in the 1970s and 80s because it was the location of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA). During the first three days he is allowed no food or sleep and told to write an exhaustive essay on his life to date. On the fourth day, in order to find out why he resigned from the YFD, head interrogator Park Nam-eun (Myung Gye-nam) starts water torture, and on the next day waterboarding. On the sixth day, torture specialist Lee Du-han, known as "The Undertaker" (Lee Geung-young), starts a deadlier form of water torture, trying to get Jong-tae to admit he is a communist in league with North Korea. By the 11th day Jong-tae writes whatever they want him to, but Lee says it's full of inconsistencies and unusable in a court of law. The next day, after finding Jong-tae tried to smuggle out a note to his wife (Woo Hee-jin), Lee resumes a more painful version of water torture, as well as electric shocks.
Après avoir été accusé d'un crime qu'il n'a pas commis, Mickey est envoyé en prison. Il se retrouve à casser des cailloux dans la cour de la prison, boulet au pied aux côtés d'autres prisonniers, dont Clarabelle Cow. Leur gardien est Pat Hibulaire, armé de plusieurs chiens.