The film opens with a montage of news footage from the late 1960s and early 1970s , including the assassination of Robert Kennedy , students killed at the Kent State shootings and the Watts riots . The movie then shows the quiet streets of Attica , New York and a 22 year old Smith in a barber shop getting his long hair cut . Smith is an expectant father who decided to become a corrections officer because of the pay . After the hair cut , he goes to start his new job at the prison where black militant Jamaal X also arrives . The film shows the first day of the two men , cross-cutting between them . The terrible prison conditions are revealed . Prison guards treat the prisoners abusively , with violence and needless strip searches , and basic needs like functioning toilets are ignored . The spirit of the Vietnam war protests is influencing the prisoners to seek recognition of their human rights
Kent State shootings
Kent State shootings
Against the Wall (1994 film)