As someone who has worked in juvenile detention centers -
As someone who has worked in juvenile detention centers, this was a hard movie to watch. I know, I know - movies oftentimes are not much like real life.
When they were bringing Leland to his cell the first time, I saw the worker in the control booth reading a newspaper rather than watching that the new intake was behaving, and I sensed they'd be showing juvies as places where rules aren't followed by staff
I've worked in three, including a good sized one in Lansing, MI - and I've never seen the ridiculous liberties taken in this movie. But I never bribed anybody with tickets either.
Though I worked with some staff who didn't care about the kids, who were there for a paycheck, still they followed the rules minimally. But I only worked 5 out of 21 shifts a week, so can't say how loose things might have been on other shifts.
This movie took place awhile back, as shown by the old school 'computer' Cheadle was typing on. 'Word processor' probably a better term. But nowadays no staff person would go into a single youth's cell and sit on the bed with them out of sight of other staff, not unless they wanted to lose their job and be suspected of all kinds of impropieties.
And the lackadaisical way the metal detector worker just let Cheadle in with his metal-containing lunch was a joke.
And I was well into the movie, and still unclear on who was related to who how.
I believe Spacey's character would have raised hell with the management at the facility when he learned Cheadle's character was attempting to write a book about his son, and about the smarmy way Cheadle approached him at the restaurant.
With the high caliber of actors in this film, I'm left wondering how it turned out so badly. Maybe they were about conveying a message rather than making a good movie?