Prisoner X

Episode 312(046) - Jan 14 1998

The wife of one of Jim's best friends from high school, Matthew Temple, turns up at the loft to tell Jim that her husband has been killed, reportedly shot dead while trying to escape from prison. As he was only in jail for selling marijuana to offset his gambling debts and only had 3 months before parole, Jim is immediately suspicious. Jim organizes an independent examination of the body, proving that Matt was shot after he was beaten to death.

In Simon's office, Jim and Blair are introduced to Maggie Chandler, a former Assistant DA and now a member of the State Board of Corrections, and she too has details of suspicious goings on at the Starkville prison facility. There has been a high incidence of serious injuries and fatalities. Further, the prison's Doctor was killed in a car accident on the way to a meeting with Chandler with evidence on the brutalities. A detective with the state police who went undercover as a guard was also stabbed before he could find out anything. Jim pleads with Simon to go undercover, not as a guard but as a prisoner, and Maggie Chandler is adamant that anybody who can identify Jim will be removed from the facility before he arrives.

Blair pleads with Jim to go in as his backup but Jim refuses. Simon has already organized a new recruit from Detroit to go undercover as the teacher of a creative writing class. During the induction, Jim tries to befriend the prison's new Doctor, Dr Wilder, but she seems very nervous and unwilling to talk.

In the guise of a cop killing prisoner called Curtis, Jim is hazed by all the resident inmates, especially his bunkmate, Turner, and the local gargantuan tough guy, Vincent, who promises to take Curtis' eyes out if he catches him staring. At night, Jim's heightened senses are tormented by all the sounds within the prison and one night he notices a crowd of cheering people in the weight room across the compound.

When Jim checks the room during the day he notices that it is hung with spotlight grids in the ceiling. When another inmate is found hung in his cell, Jim tries to covertly discover the truth from the other prisoners in the metal shop where they work and Turner angrily advises him to stay out of it. The rumor is that Fraser was actually dragged kicking and screaming from his cell.

Jim also notices frozen meat from the prison kitchen being covertly smuggled out in a delivery van, and he overhears a deal to sell prison hardware to retail outlets, a scam which seems to involve another of the inmates, a weazly opportunist called Miller. The workshop is also adjacent to an electronically locked storeroom which appears to have a ventilation tunnel with a telltale airflow from outside the compound. When Miller and a guard enter the storeroom, Jim uses his superior sight to focus in on the electronic keypad and memorize the combination.

Jim begins to form an uneasy alliance with Turner, and saves another of the inmates, Leota, from an altercation with Vincent. Leota was a trustee in the prison infirmary, selling overstocked drugs to dealers outside. He is now on Vincent's "deathlist" for not cutting him in for a piece of the action.

In the creative writing class, Jim is horrified to see Blair wander in and introduce himself as the new teacher. Blair tells Jim quietly at the end of class that the other guy had an "emergency appendectomy" and that he is to be Jim's contact. Jim tells Blair he will pass messages through his laundry bag.

Blair receives Jim's first message about the multitude of prison black market operations, and against Simon's instructions, follows the meat van to check out their delivery routes.

Blair then notices Dr Wilder entering a restaurant where they are unloading the meat and he joins her at the table, trying to win over her trust. She reveals that she has been treating some horrendous injuries and Blair tries to convince her to provide him with some medical evidence, but she is resistant. But she does point out Douglas, a prison guard, who is directing a large group of people to a van to go to some unknown location. She says that it happens every week. Blair follows the loaded van and it returns to the prison.

Inside Starkville, Miller corners Jim, whispering that he knows he is a cop. Miller is inside for fraud, counterfeit and forgery, and remembers Jim from his kid brother's trial. He threatens to reveal Jim's identity unless Jim can organize Miller's release. That night Jim sees another inmate being dragged from his cell and again witnesses the fight across the compound.

In the meantime Dr Wilder attempts to smuggle the files Blair needs out of the prison, but is captured by Douglas before she can leave.

The next morning, Jim pens a hurried message to Blair: "BEEN ID'D. PULL ME, ASAP" and leaves it in the laundry bag. But unbeknownst to Jim, Miller sees him writing his note and in order to buy more time for his release, forges another note in Jim's handwriting which says instead, "MAKING PROGRESS. STAY TUNED. PS THE FOOD SUCKS HERE."

Jim reveals his knowledge about the fights to Turner, wanting Turner to help him gather evidence on the bouts and Turner calls him on being a cop, asking if Jim can put in a good word for him with the parole board.

Later that day, Blair is informed that his class has been cancelled indefinitely and reports to Simon, delivering Jim's note. Blair is anxious to pull Jim out, but based on the note from Jim, Simon decides to leave him another 24 hours.

Back at the prison, Jim continues to wait anxiously for a rescue that isn't coming. Turner reveals that Matt Temple was killed in a fight with Vincent, part of an organized, high-stakes gambling ring within the prison. He further reveals that Jim himself is now on the death list, and that Jim's people had better pull him out. Jim confesses that something has gone wrong and asks instead about the air shaft in the storeroom at the back of the metal shop. It apparently leads to the steam plant and a maze of tunnels and shafts that lead to the river.

As Jim tries to disappear, he is followed by Miller who demands to be taken with him. Security registers their presence as soon as Jim breaches the keypad lock but they manage to make it into the tunnel system before they are caught by the ringleader of the security guards, Burnett. Miller tries to strike a deal and Burnett allows him to escape, only to shoot him in the back. But Burnett has more specific plans for Jim.

Jim is thrown in solitary, along with a despondent Turner, and they await their time in the ring against Vincent. When Blair's class is cancelled permanently and Blair reports that Dr Wilder has disappeared, Simon is able to get the search warrant they need.

Jim is led into the ring to face Vincent, and he puts up a tremendous fight, so much so that the guards tell Vincent to use a can of mace spray. Blinded by the mace, Jim uses his superior hearing to home in on Vincent's position on the mat, and he finally delivers the winning blow.