Life After Life — Day 92

Genre: Drama

Inciting Incident:  Due to shocking—but circumstantial—evidence, a gentle young man is convicted of a grisly murder that he didn't commit. He is sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Act I:  In prison, the other inmates steer clear of him initially, respectfully afraid of the killer they believe him to be. Our inmate's high profile case catches the attention of a young female defense attorney, who becomes convinced of his innocence and decides to fight to free him on appeal.

Act I turning point:  After some time in general population, the other prisoners recognize our inmate's gentle nature, and realize that he is probably innocent. One of the biggest prison gang leaders beats him up to prove to the rest of the prison that the "killer" in their midst is a paper tiger.

Act II, part 1:  Our inmate is in hell. He has become a pinata and a whipping boy for all to wail on. Everyone who once feared him now exact their revenge upon him in unspeakable ways. The only ray of kindness in his life is his attorney. Their connection has deepened into an unspoken but intense love.

Midpoint: After several years of escalating abuse, our inmate can take no more and decides to take his own life. But his suicide attempt is interrupted by his biggest tormenter. As the bully cuts him down from his homemade noose, our inmate goes berserk. He kills his tormenter in the most brutal fashion imaginable.

Act II, part 2:  There were no witnesses to the murder, but the swagger and new found fire in our inmate's eyes let everybody know that a score has been settled, and a transformation has occurred. Our inmate realizes that the only way to survive in this brutal place for the rest of his life is to become the animal he was accused of being, and so he does just that. He cuts off all ties with his attorney / love interest, and gets down to the serious business of terrifying the general population into submission. Though he has seemingly killed off his own humanity, he can not afford to mourn the loss. He vows never to be weak or prayed upon again.

Act II turning point:  The attorney wins the case on appeal with evidence that clearly exonerates our inmate.  After 5 years, our inmate is declared innocent and wrongly imprisoned. He is set free. 

Act III:  After five years in hell, and his transformation into an actual killer, freedom and re-entry into the real world is the worst punishment our inmate could ever imagine. The devil's bargain he made to survive in prison now hangs upon him life an anvil. Worst of all, no one outside the prison realizes what he did while inside. Tormented by a news media that elevates him to sainthood, and the love of the honest woman who set him free, he must struggle to reclaim some of the goodness he once had, and atone for his sins—or else be consumed by the imprisonment he never deserved, and the man that he never wanted to become.