The Sentence
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Season Two:
The Sentence
Let the punishment fit the crime. An ambitious inventor, Dr. Jack Henson, creates a "virtual prison" and wants the government to adopt it nationwide. Using his invention, convicts serve a life sentence in just a few hours. Henson claims the harsh sentences will ensure that criminals never offend again while the short time required cuts prison costs. He seems to be making his point until they connect an innocent man to the apparatus and the demonstration goes sour. To save the young man's life, Henson must submit to his own invention--and to a lesson in the true meaning of justice.
After the protagonist was required to enter his programming to prevent the death of an innocent man who was serving his time within the programming, the protagonist emerges from the programming himself and is astonished to find the innocent man dead a few steps away from the device. Consequently, the protagonist undergoes a trial by which he is sentenced to life for the death of the innocent man. Refusing to accept that his knowledge of the device’s malfunctions whenever an innocent man is placed into the programming’s simulation is worthy of incarceration, the protagonist gradually delves into his mind and attitude and soon realizes that he is to blame.
Years later, the protagonist reclaims his clothes and prepares to leave the prison facility, when he abruptly awakens from his programming and discovers the innocent man to have never died. He had been under the influence of his programming the entire time, and he ultimately decides to eliminate the device and any information thereof as he now comprehends what a prisoner experiences and how the device has its dire flaws.
By Tim McCree (Tim_m) on Tuesday, January 02, 2024 - 5:40 am:Reminds me of what O'Brien went through in tne DS9 episode, Hard Time.