Gladiator Days - Anatomy of a Prison Murder

Gladiator Days - Anatomy of a Prison Murder
by Marc Levin

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DVD details

Director: Marc Levin
Brand: Warner Brothers
Cinematographer: Greg Andracke
Cinematographer: Mark Benjamin
Producer: Marc Levin
Editor: John Kirby
Producer: John Kirby
Producer: Alan Levin
Producer: Daphne Pinkerson
Producer: Julie Anderson
Producer: Mikaela Beardsley
Producer: Nancy Abraham
Producer: Pam Widener
Producer: Richard Stratton
Producer: Sheila Nevins
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 60 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-01-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Hbo Home Video

DVD Reviews of Gladiator Days - Anatomy of a Prison Murder

DVD Review: A little bit one sided
Summary: 5 Stars

053803: Life at Fifteen
As someone that was placed in an adult prison at age fifteen, I can relate to a lot that Troy says about being a man and standing up for your self. What I disagree with is that the murder was racially motivated. Someone that hasn't done serious time will never understand that it was mutually agreed between his victim and Troy that one of them had to die. It's just that Troy was more devious and effective. He would have done the same to a white opponent that challenged him. His reference to the guards about watch this act referred to his testimony at the trial not the apology to the victim's family. A real convict does not give an apology unless he means it. That was an act of respect.

DVD Review: Invaluable Insight Into the Criminal Justice System
Summary: 5 Stars

A compelling, documentary account of a prison murder and the events leading up to that event. Addresses issues such as juvenile delinquency, murder, prison culture, race relations and even the death penalty. I use it every semester to show to students in a four year bachelor of science criminal justice program. Students are in awe of this film every time I show it!
- Dean Reeves / Adjunct Professor / Metropolitan State College of Denver

DVD Review: Shockingly informative.
Summary: 5 Stars

Disturbing in the murder itself, but just as, or even more, disturbing when we consider, in reference to video surveillance, how it's actually being watched...and by whom?

DVD Review: Chow hall can hazardous to your health..
Summary: 4 Stars

I am always a sucker for a good prison story and this DVD definately manages to present an intense and grim real-life story of a young man who managed to screw his life by getting a life-time prison setence and then proceed to "shank" another inmate to his bloody death.

Along with the actual story I really enjoyed viewing the prison riot scenes that really show how tense and dangerous prison life can be. Some of the interview subjects, such as the D.A. guy, I found to be a little irritating and boring.

Anatomy of a Prison Murder is an intense and involving story that presents the dire realities of prison life and how one young man chose to take the darkest route to the pits of prison hell.

DVD Review: Hauntingly Honest
Summary: 5 Stars

Gladiator Days: Anatomy of A Prison Murder, an HBO documentary - where a film crew visited multiple prisons throughout the United States, interviewing inmates, prosecutors and guards - many of the clips displayed at the beginning will be quickly recognized as they have aired on national news outlets. (The "Yard Fights" in California, the prisoner being attacked by a dog while offering no resistance, rioting, etc., etc.)However, the documentary focuses on an inmate on inmate assault and subsequent homicide, captured by the Central Utah Prison security cameras. (Central is located in Draper, Utah)

Troy Kell, at the age of 18, was originally sentenced to life without parole, for a murder that took place in 1986, in his home-state of Nevada. A friend of his, Sandy Shaw, asked Troy to stop a man from harassing her & her family, b/c he wanted her to pose nude. Troy Kell, nor the second boy, William, knew the victim - had never met him and would have had no reason whatsoever to attack the man had it not been for the female codefendant. William, had stolen the gun used in the crime from a neighbor's home, made it available to Troy the night of the crime & it was subsequently located by Las Vegas PD in his home. The murder of 21 year old Cotton Kelly, in the desert, became known as the "Show & Tell Murder" because the female co-defendant, Sandy Shaw, returned to the seen of the crime multiple times showing the corpse off to her friends. One of the people that had seen this horrific scene reported it to the police.

Kell was transferred to Central Utah Prison as part of a prisoner exchange - and that is where he met Eric Daniels - a white supremacist, with multiple tattoos reflecting his personal ideologies - Daniels was initially sent to prison on a minimal forgery charge. He participated in a riot, was placed in solitary confinement& six months later he actively participated in every aspect of the attack and subsequent homicide.

The security tape that captured the attack is chilling, albeit incomplete - and at first seems to have nothing more to offer than a grotesque view of what humans are capable of doing to each other under certain conditions. However, there's much more to be discerned from the tape, as well as, the documentary as a whole, if it is viewed with an unbiased, neutral opinion. For example, the extenuating circumstances that allowed three high risk inmates to be left, unsupervised in such close proximity of each other, the hand cuff key, the forged request, allowing an inmate that is on "lock-down" out of their cell, and lastly the amount of time that elapses before any authority figure intervenes - is absolutely reprehensible. (Considering the guards had access to multiple forms of non-lethal weaponry - and yet, not a single voice calls out over the intercom for the inmates to separate, "rack in", get prone, nothing....Look at the time on the video - the difference between when the first blow was struck and when the victim receives CPR is well over an hour....)

Yes, there are parts of the video that are hard to watch, making it all the more important to not look away! Turning away, shielding ourselves from that which is ugly, unsightly and harsh is what allows this inhumane environment to exist in prison. Placing a non-violent criminal in a supermax facility, sentencing an 18yr old young man to LWOP set all this in motion. What possible good could come from such sentences? When a person is given no chance to do anything positive or constructive...when all hope has been forever erased... what is left? For those in prison...it's simple - become the meanest, baddest, toughest individual in the house...why? To avoid being abused, defiled and degraded in the worst, most inhumane manner imaginable. And with 90% of inmates eligible for parole at some point in their lifetimes, these hardened, hardcore people will return to our communities and live in our neighborhoods,bringing with them all the hate, anger and bitterness the system instilled in them during their incareration.

I recommend anyone that is interested in "true crime," human behavior, criminal justice, etc., and all parents should view this documentary, to familiarize themselves with the reality of the prison system - so as to better educate and hopefully deter their children from pursuing a similar path. An excellent tool for alternative schools and programs to utilize - without saying a word, with the simple push of a button the instructor can open the eyes of at risk youth...erasing the glamor and mystique so often associated with criminal behavior.

Description of Gladiator Days - Anatomy of a Prison Murder

Across the United States, violent crime in prison is an everyday reality, with inmates routinely exposed to assault, riot, rape and murder. Gladiator Days: Anatomy of a Prison Murder examines the culture of institutional violence through the events that led to one burtal prison murder. Utah State Prison surveillance cameras capture this disturbing real-life account of the vicious stabbing of black inmate Lonnie Blackmon by convicted murderer, white supremacist Troy Kell and his accomplice Eric Daniels.

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