Henry Young, a 17-year-old orphan who is sent to Alcatraz for stealing 5$, is caught attempting to escape custody and as punishment, he's subjected to solitary confinement for 19 days, which is stretched into three years. After getting out of it, almost instantly, Young takes a spoon and stabbed a fellow prisoner to death. Now, an eager and idealistic lawyer is assigned to the case, and his goal is to prove the responsibility of Alcatraz's horrible treatment system, which would make anyone to lose sanity if they had been sentenced to such punishment.