Brubaker Ethical Issues

Brubaker

The first ethical issue in the movie Brubaker that stands out in my mind was when Brubaker found out about the burial grounds. While Brubaker was on the job he gets an inside tip from an inmate saying that he had something to tell him in private that would clear his conscious. The inmate goes on into telling warden Brubaker that he has buried people in an open field on prison property. After waking up the next morning and finding the inmate who told him about the burial grounds dead hanging from a flag pole he knew immediately what had to be done, find those graves. Brubaker begins to look and finally does uncover burial plots for hundreds of bodies in this field near the prison, many of which were buried a very long time ago. While Brubaker is digging the word gets out to the prison committee and to the governor. Instead of the governor and the committee going out with Brubaker and helping him uncover the truth about these bodies, the governor is actually embarrassed and orders Brubaker to stop digging and he will get whatever he needs to make his prison a more comfortable and up to date facility. On one hand, Brubaker wants to reveal the truth about what he is discovering out in those fields. But by doing this he puts in danger his job, his career and also puts the prisoners in a dangerous position. Instead Brubaker makes his decision on continuing to dig and find out the truth behind the people buried out in the fields. Brubaker looses his job as warden but he gains much respect out of the inmates and although its never said I believe much respect for himself.

The parties that are involved in this ethical issue are first warden Brubaker. Following Brubaker is the prison committee, the governor, the inmates, and the prison itself. If Brubaker digs up these graves he puts his career in jeopardy as warden. He also puts at risk the inmates because he is going against direct orders from the governor to stop, which may in hand get the inmates into serious trouble. The prison committee and the governor are at risk because they've known about these graves and murders and did nothing about it and in fact even tried to cover it up by offering money and/or improvements to Brubaker if he immediately stopped digging. The prison is in danger because if Brubaker doesn't stop digging he will loose out on the much-needed improvements promised to him by the governor and the prison committee.

I believe that the order of importance from highest to lowest is pretty simple. The fact that the prisoners could possibly be punished for doing something that Brubaker put them up too is a very high concern, since these are innocent bystanders in matters of the digging. The second thing on my list of highest importance is the prison itself. If Brubaker continues to dig the necessary improvements to the prison won't happen. The prison needs a new roof, new boiler, beds, and new farming equipment as opposed to stopping and getting everything that is needed. Following I believe that the families of the prisoners play a big role in this scenario. If a family member of yours dies in prison while they are trying to be rehabilitated is something that should never happen; especially if they should be kept under watch at all times by the trained workers in the facility. Fourthly is Brubaker's job as warden, he can either loose it by continuing the digging or keep his job and stop the digging and keep being warden at Westfield Prison. The prison committee and the governor is the last on my list for the simple fact is that they will continue having their job regardless of Brubaker's decision. The only thing that could possibly affect the governor and prison committee is that if Brubaker finds out that these murders have been known by them then they could possibly be in trouble with the law.

If I was in Brubaker's position I most likely would have stopped the digging. I believe that although it may not be the right thing and those bodies and there families in the field may never get the closure they deserve. But I feel that the prison and the prison inmates should come first over the people who have already passed. The prison needs many improvements and renovations and if stopping digging is the only way to get these improvements then I would go for it.

The consequences of these decisions are very simple because there are really only two possible outcomes. If Brubaker does decide to continue digging he will then loose his job at the prison and possibly any other prison job he wishes to pursue, while putting the lives of the inmates in danger and also the future of the prison risk. The benefits of this would be that the families of the people who are found out there murdered get certain closure as well as a possibility of putting somebody behind bars for the crime that they had committed.

In the harm test I believe that Brubaker is putting more people at risk if he continues his digging as opposed to stopping the dig. The consequences of his actions could result in Brubaker losing his job as warden at the prison. Furthermore by him continuing the dig he is putting at risk the lives of the inmates at the prison for the simple fact that the prison is not up to date and improvements would be made if he did decide to stop. Society may not be directly affected but if he does stop he will be giving people in the society a chance to make money and have a job to do for the prison by putting in the necessary equipment that is needed inside of the prison. Overall in my eyes Brubaker is making a poor choice and wouldn't pass the harm test when he takes matters into his own hands and continues the dig.

As the publicity test goes I feel that Brubaker would indeed want, and I too would want my name in the papers if in fact I did uncover murders that would have never been exposed if he decided to stop the dig. This would be something that I would definitely be proud of to show my family and friends because I overcame the adversity of the governor and prison committee and stuck with my gut and uncovered the truth about the bodies in the field. I would also want my children to see with their own eyes knowing that I did the right thing in my heart and didn't listen to what everybody was telling me. I would want my kids to do the same thing by overcoming the things they know are bad and doing what they know is the right thing to do.

If I were a prisoner and found out that Brubaker was offered anything he wanted to make the prison more of a comfortable and up to date facility to stop digging and still made myself and my fellow inmates dig I would certainly be upset. I would know that Brubaker was doing the right thing by trying to uncover the truth about these bodies, but I would feel that the prison and the inmates inside need things to be improved for their wellbeing

...