Felon 🎥 2008 Movie Info

Plot Summary

Wade Porter is a blue-collar worker living with his fiancée Laura and their son Michael. One night, they hear a burglar in the house while they’re sleeping. Wade chases him out of the house and hits him in the head with a baseball bat, unintentionally killing him on his lawn. For attacking an unarmed intruder after he exited the house, he is arrested and charged with murder. At the urging of his public defender, he enters a plea of no contest in exchange for a reduced sentence of three years for involuntary manslaughter.

During the bus ride to prison, Danny Sampson, leader of the local Aryan Brotherhood, stabs a man and hides the knife with young Aryan member Snowman who is sitting behind Wade. In a moment’s panic, Snowman hides the knife under Wade’s seat and forces him to deny knowledge of it. As a result, Wade is sent to solitary confinement until the stabbing can be investigated. Lieutenant Jackson interrogates him about the stabbing but he doesn’t cooperate with the investigation. Jackson decides to send Wade to the Security Housing Unit where he is the commanding officer. John Smith is serving a life sentence at San Quentin State Prison and is transferred to Wade’s prison, becoming his cellmate in the SHU.

Inmates here are under 23-hour lock-down and not permitted to have visitors for the first three months. Wade discovers the daily hour of yard time consists of inmate fights, on which the officers bet. At different points throughout the film, it’s shown that not all of the officers agree with Jackson’s methods. In addition to the prison violence, Wade’s regular visits with Laura start to take their toll on their relationship. Michael has nightmares after visiting, and the family’s finances are running low. After Wade refuses to identify Sampson as the perpetrator of the murder on the bus.

Meet the Cast