Prison of Secrets

Director: Fred Gerber Year film was made: 1997 Genre: Drama Stars: Stephanie Zimbalist, Finola Hughes

Typical made for TV movie. It's a fun to watch, with "b" rated acting. I have to agree with the other viewer comment, that the main character gets what she deserved. You can't expect to steal money and get away with it - justice was served. Although I thought a 10 year sentence was excessive for a first offense, especially when she had to return the money. Also, most employers wouldn't have pursed charges for fear of negative publicity - although with a private company I guess it's more likely to pursue the charges. Where I work if you help your company save money then it's reflected in your bonus, I suspect that's the way it is most other work environments.

Here's the summary from Lifetime TV:

This is the nightmarish true story of a middle-class wife and mother who is found guilty of a white-collar crime and finds herself serving a prison sentence. While incarcerated, she witnesses the assaults of female prisoners by male guards and uncovers a prison prostitution ring. Outraged, she clandestinely informs her husband, a popular local-radio talk-show host, risking her life and her family's safety to successfully expose this injustice. Ultimately, 22 guards were fired or replaced by women.

I had the tube flipped on when this one came on a local station on Saturday afternoon. Should have known that it would be a flop to be running in a graveyard time spot like that. Since I was tired out from Friday night, I sat back and took it.

I'm sorry to see a promising actress like Stephanie Zimbalist doing crap like this. Women's prison movies are often the bottom of a career, as shown by Linda Blair (Chained Heat) and more recently by Catherine Oxenberg (Time Served).

Most flicks in this genre generate sympathy for the main character, but not so here. In this one I felt no sympathy for Zimbalist's vain character who believed that no jury would say that she did wrong by her misuse of her company's money. If she was stupid enough to believe that a turn down the virtual slap on the wrist deal she was offered, then IMHO she deserved to get sent up the river and have Big Bertha breathing down her back. I expected to see some scenes where the typical down and dirty women cons told her to stop her high and mighty act as "rich bitch" or "white collar criminal." Ashley Judd got that "rich bitch" lecture in the first prison scene of Double Jeopardy.

This movie degenerated into a suitable for TV version of the typical "babes behind bars" fare, with shoulder level shower scenes, before and after sex scenes, and the poorly delivered riot scene. The ending, though typical of this genre, did not deliver due to the lack of sympathy for the main character, even after she had taken her lumps and exposed all the corruption.

I do hope Stephanie Zimbalist can put her career back on track after this dud.

Seen quite a few TV movies and on average they often seem so much more worthwhile than those on general release. Why? Well a film like this isn't likely to be a cash cow no matter how much you throw at it, hence it's unworthy of Hollywood big bucks. One reviewer here saw it as a typical women's prison flick. I rest my case. But somebody cared enough about the storyline to produce it with a modest budget, presumably hoping only for equally modest returns. These are the guys I admire, as I do the characters in the film. Absolutely believable, I've heard sufficient of these horror stories to know they happen. Maybe we don't hear more of them because of a dearth of courageous characters like the one portrayed here that expose them. God help us - abuse and exploition such as this and in other forms are going on all around us. Stephanie Zimbalist was perfectly cast as the woman who kept her integrity intact. Stephanie Sawyer as her little daughter was amazing. In fact excellent turns were put in by all the cast here. I said this movie was believable throughout, and only in the final few moments of the dramatic climax does reality kick in and you realise it's a dramatised version of a true story you're seeing. But I'm still going to give it 10 stars because some movies are worth making. This is one of them.

Although the movie could've been written better it does have great promise. The story line is definitely believeable, but it wasn't written as a very serious matter, IMO. It seemed that the characters could've been better written. The title does fit the movie well, but that's about it. I would recommend this movie to any Stephanie Zimbalist, (former Laura Holt of Remington Steele), or anyone that likes rap related movies. Other than that, I wouldn't recommend it, unless you enjoy passable tv movies. If I weren't such a big Stephanie Zimbalist fan this would've been one movie I would've passed up. Stephanie, IMO, gives a great performance and that performance is what makes this movie passable, otherwise it wouldn't be fit for viewing.

This movie was based on a true story, so it was supposed to be rather accurate. However, I realize that some details were probably jazzed up a little bit. This movie revealed some of the terrible things that can and DO happen in places that are supposedly secure and trustworthy. It just goes to show that some people are less honest and sometimes dangerous. I thought the female guard, Sheila, had a lot of charisma. She really risked a lot to help Lynn, but in the end she helped to stop one of the worst criminal circumstances in our nation. I liked how Lynn took it upon herself to help others inside the female prison, or at least tried to help. It shows that she really cared about the safety of these women and that is saying something for her.