Brubaker's biggest mistake wasn't pissing off the prison board, it was not sacking the worst of the trustees.
He promoted several prisoners to trustees but by and large he seemed to keep to many bad apples that were at the core of the prison's problems.
In the movie he explains to Lillian that if he does that then the other prisoners will kill the ex trustee
shareWhy have "trustees" to begin with ? -- why not just have guards and be done with it
share''Why have "trustees" to begin with ? -- why not just have guards and be done with it''
Money. Cheaper to ''hire'' prisoners, and give then privileges rather than payment, than it is to hire guards that they will have to pay salaries to.
Precisely.
The whole place was just one big scam for the government to make money, while treating the prisoners like actual slaves and property to be abused and then thrown away. Quite literally for some of them.