Guilt by Association

I had no idea (and I'll bet there are a lot of folks who shared my ignorance, hence the need for this movie to be made) that there is a federal law of mandatory minimum sentencing with regard to drug association. In this tv drama Guilt by Association, Mercedes Ruehl discovers how dangerous being innocent it can be. Her boyfriend, Alex Carter, smokes marijuana with his friends and sometimes sells a little supply so he can get his own for free. Mercedes hates his recreational activity, and she actually breaks up with him since he doesn't want to stop. Then, one day, the police barge into her house and arrest her in front of her children. Her house and other possessions are seized by the government, and she's charged with four counts of conspiracy to sell and assisting in drug dealing. Alex's friends all turn on her to reduce their sentences, and in court, innocent actions are twisted around: She took a few phone messages when Alex was busy, and once she returned his gym bag he'd left at her house, not knowing it was filled with drugs instead of workout attire.

Because of the mandatory minimum law, she's given an outrageous sentence, far longer than those who actually did the drug dealing. It's shocking and horrifying, and she has to say goodbye to her young children. By the time her sentence (which is not eligible for parole) is up, her kids will be adults. While in prison, she finds out that many, many other women have been imprisoned for the same crime: taking a few phone calls for their boyfriends, or knowing what they were up to and choosing not to blow the whistle.

This is tough to watch, since anyone who has seen Caged knows women's prisons are rough. Threats, violence, solitary confinement, and without even a semi-private cell while she sleeps, Mercedes lives through Hell and gives an excellent performance. This is one of those movies that makes you inspired to write your congressman, and it's a subject I'd never heard of before. I've seen countless prison movies, but never one where the victim has been sentenced to more years than the person who actually did the crime. In the film, the judge himself says he believes the sentence to be too harsh, but Congress has taken any power to change it out of his hands. If you only think of Mercedes Ruehl as being a flashy girl with long nails wearing animal print, this sobering drama will certainly change your mind about her.

Susan Walker (Mercedes Ruehl) is arrested and the police raid her family home. One month earlier, the widower with two kids thought she hit the jackpot with boyfriend Russell. It turns out he's growing weed with his friends. She throws him out but the law charges her as a co-conspirator anyways. Mandatory minimum sentence makes her just as culpable. Others implicate her to receive lower sentences while she has no information to trade. Everything she owns is seized. She loses her job. She's convicted and sentenced to 20 years. In prison, new girl Danielle (Rachel McAdams) was similarly convicted.

The first half is a bit slow. It's more of an education rather than a drama. McAdams comes in halfway through. Her role is small but she gets a couple of emotional scenes. Ruehl powers this movie. The second half has some prison dramas.

This powerful and disturbing film portrays the horrifying unintended consequences of bad Congressional legislation in America, where lives are ruined by idiotic laws. The subject is 'mandatory minimum sentencing' under an Act of Congress dating from 1986. The fact that Congress could be so stupid as ever to pass this law will come as no surprise to the large majority of the American population who have said in repeated polls that they have less respect for members of Congress than they have for used car salesmen. After all, the notorious, and probably unconstitutional, Patriot Act, was originally passed by Congress without having been read by a single senator or congressman. The Patriot Act effectively abolishes a large part of the American Constitution, but few seem to be troubled by this fact. When it came up for renewal not long ago, only 23 senators voted against it, which means that the U. S. Senate at the present time consists of 23 sane people outvoted by 77 incompetent morons or dangerous psychopaths, whichever description may be considered the more charitable. But then, that too is no surprise to the public, I expect. When has respect for any branch of Government ever been lower in America? In this instance, the woman sent to prison for a mandatory minimum sentence of twenty years (yes, I did say twenty years) is named Susan Walker, and her story is a true story, although apparently a conflation of three separate cases with some identities fictionalised. Susan Walker got this heavy sentence despite the fact that she did nothing wrong! No, she did not kill anybody, rob anybody, or even insult the flag. She was entirely innocent, but she was caught in a legislative trap. Americans seem to love 'wars', and they fight wars against everything. They have a war on cancer, a war on drugs, a war on crime, a war on carbon, a war on 'terror', but strangely enough, no war on corrupt bankers, no war on illegal eavesdropping, no war on IRS persecution of political groups, no war on abuses of power, no war on government fraud and waste. In other words, the 'wars' which are actually waged are largely phoney. This film deals with the massively phoney 'war on drugs'. It has been well known for decades that the American Government itself, through its security agencies, deals in drugs constantly. Remember the Iran-Contra Scandal? Of course, nothing is done about that, but people who grow a few marijuana plants are treated as master criminals and sent to jail for interminable periods of time. And I do not criticize this because I like marijuana. I have never smoked any and hate the smell of that smoke so much I will cross the street to get away from it sticking to somebody's clothes who passes me. So I could be described as a truly extreme marijuana-hater. Nor have I taken any other non-medical drug. In fact, I hate drugs and even believe that major dealers should be executed. But having made my position on drugs clear, I believe that the 1986 drug legislation is one of the worst laws ever passed in the USA. This film shows why. Susan Walker, played in a bravura performance worthy of an Oscar by Mercedes Ruehl, is a widow with two children who has a boyfriend named Russell (shiftily played by Alex Carter). He smokes pot once in a while, which irritates Susan and she says she cannot have him doing that near her children. She even breaks with him over this and throws him out of the house. But before doing so, she answered a phone call from a friend of his and passed him the phone, not knowing what it was about. This was to turn out to be her 'crime'. After ridding herself of the boyfriend, Susan is asleep early one morning when armed policeman batter down her door and raid her house, tearing it apart looking for drugs. She is taken away in handcuffs. It turns out that her ex-boyfriend and some of his friends whom she barely knew had been secretly growing 2000 marijuana plants, smoking the result, and selling the remainder to friends. She knew nothing about any of this. Under the crazy legislation, anyone associated with a drugs offender who has even unwittingly passed on a message relating to drugs (as she did by answering her own phone and saying to him 'It's for you') must be given a mandatory minimum sentence not less than the offender himself. Under the equally sinister plea-bargaining system, the true offenders can then reduce their own sentences by 'giving information' about someone else. All the real offenders in this case 'give information' against Susan and get their sentences reduced. But she, the only one who is completely innocent, can give no information because she knows nothing, so she gets twenty years and some of them get only a few years. This travesty of justice has been repeated many times and is apparently still going on. In 2010, 39.4% of the prisoners in America were in prison on mandatory minimum sentences. Tens of thousands of wives, girl friends, sisters, neighbours, and other innocents have flooded the women's prisons in America despite the fact that they themselves did little or nothing, and their sentences are generally greater than those of the criminals who really did do something. This is a 'message picture', but what a horrifying and important message! Mercedes Ruehl is overwhelmingly convincing throughout in her harrowing role. I cannot reveal the end, but few of these wrongly imprisoned people ever got out without serving their full sentences. A tiny handful were pardoned by Clinton, after intense pressure, but not exonerated. So many lives have been ruined by this idiotic legislation, and the courageous people who made this film to expose this miscarriage of justice all deserve medals, as well as the campaigners on this tragic issue.

Guilt By Association is one of those TV movies that someone decides to create in order to inform the public about the great injustice of something going on in our nation. It's meant to inspire frustration from the general public so that they might be inspired to seek change by getting involved or even voting for the people who oppose these things. Because the film is structured so blatantly to tackle a specific topic, at times the characters themselves and their story take a backseat. I'm all for informing people about the ugly truths of the war on drugs and how mandatory minimums work, but a documentary like 13th does a more effective job of it than Guilt By Association. I don't know, perhaps to inspire the proper amount of outrage certain people need to see Mercedes Ruehl (a white mother-figure) impacted by these ugly laws, and cute little Rachel McAdams too. But I don't think it makes people truly face the reality of what the nation created these laws to do. I was duly frustrated with the unfair things that happen to the characters in this movie, but I wouldn't suggest someone watch it just for the sake of getting outraged. The whole story is even uglier than the one small piece highlighted in Guilt By Association.

OK, so you watch this movie which was made in 2002 and think the comments by some here are correct. Specifically I mean that this injustice is Bush's fault.

Well sorry it shouldn't be a political issue, but in fact it is. These Drug War laws were initiated by a Democratic Congress, not actually Republican.

Yes I'm a Democrat by need to set the record straight.

OK so Susan Walker, who basically was tried, convicted and sentenced to 20 years just because her boyfriend was dealing drugs. This type of sentencing was very regular during the 1990s. Both Bush Sr. and Clinton didn't do to much about. Under Bush some 23 wives received the same sentence and under Clinton the # is over 120. Mr. Clinton also did nothing.

In 2000, George W. Bush actually had all these cases reviewed and 95 of these cases were over turned.

This story takes you through one of the cases, but is actually true events from 3 different women. Susan obviously is the focus of this film but the personality is from a GA women (Daniel in the film) who also was released. Her character is played by Rachel McAdams. The 3rd women, whose name was never released is still in jail.

Its a wonderfully intense film to watch. For a TV production they did a great job with the time-line. Again understand the events are not all that of Susan Walker.

For more information you can find the full Susan Walker story on-line.

Enjoy this film.