Characters of Oz

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The characters of Oz are a diverse mixture of inmates from various gangs and prison staff.

[edit] Inmates

The inmates in Oz are a wide variety imprisoned for different crimes. Some inmates such as Adebisi and Schillinger are purely evil sociopaths with little moral compromise. Others such as Beecher are imprisoned for single mistakes in life. The entire show though does go back and forth between showing the inmates as savage and human with most of the inmates getting shown as both at some point throughout the series.

• Augustus Hill (Harold Perrineau Jr.): Prisoner #95H522 - Physically disabled, but socially astute.
• Miguel Alvarez (Kirk Acevedo): Prisoner #97A413 - Goes through a process of losing masculine credibility within the latino gang, then tries to redeem himself after cutting out a respectable prison guard's eyes. Appears in episodes 1-26, 34-36, 41-56.
• Kareem Said (Eamonn Walker): Prisoner #97S444 - A brilliant Muslim leader with a lust for power and a conviction that other people's racism will absolve him. Appears in episodes 1-51.
• Ryan O'Reily (Dean Winters): Prisoner #97P904 - An Irish hoodlum who does what it takes to survive. Compared to Othello's Iago by show creator Fontana, he is responsible for almost every death in the show's first season.
• Nino Schibetta (Tony Musante): the show's first leader of the Sicilians. He is the prisoner who rules all until Simon Adebisi and Ryan O'Reily decide to secretly murder him.
• Peter Schibetta (Eddie Malavarca): Nino Schibetta's son, who got into Oz for money laundering. Tried to take the place of his father, but he kept learning the hard way (literally) he was not cut out for the role.
• Tobias Beecher (Lee Tergesen): Prisoner #97B412 - Was a middle class lawyer in denial about his alcoholism until landing in prison forced him to confront himself and become self-sufficient. His character undergoes the most drastic changes throughout the seasons, during which he becomes a drug addict, falls in love with a man and finds Islam. His relationship with Keller and blood feud with Schillinger is the series' dominant story arc, beginning in the first episode and not being resolved until the series finale.
• Vernon Schillinger (J. K. Simmons): Prisoner #92S110 - leader of the Aryan Brotherhood, Schillinger commits atrocities against other inmates because of race, sexual orientation, or overall weakness.
• Simon Adebisi (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje): Prisoner #93A234 - A gigantic, deranged maniac of Nigerian descent; incarcerated for decapitating a police officer with a machete. His flirtations with insanity and religion are transient. However, Adebisi remains one of the most powerful inmates within the walls of Oz up until his death. Appears in episodes 1-32.
• Burr Redding (Anthony Chisholm): Prisoner #01R289 - Leads the Homeboys from 2001-2003. He is an old black man who is a veteran of the Vietnam War and the streets. His best friend was Augustus Hill's father, though he loved Augustus Hill's mother in some special way, which leaves a question about Hill's real father. Appears in episodes 34-56.
• Kenny Wangler (J. D. Williams): Prisoner #97W566 - Young member of the Homeboy gang on Oz from 1997-2000. Enters prison at age of 16. Appears in episodes 2-25.
• Chris Keller (Christopher Meloni): Prisoner #98K514 - A bisexual serial killer who preyed upon gay men in the outside world while hiding his sexual orientation through a series of marriages. Perhaps the most amoral figure in the entire milieu, he is a master of emotional manipulation and only seems to really enjoy himself when those who care about him are made to suffer. His relationship with Beecher is also a big part in many episodes. Keller appears in episodes 12-25, 27-36, 42-56.
• Cyril O'Reily (Scott William Winters): Prisoner #98P204 - Ryan's mentally retarded brother who was incarcerated after blindly following Ryan's orders to murder the husband of Dr. Gloria Nathan, who Ryan is obsessed with. He was mentally incapacitated in a gang fight. Appears in episodes 11, 13-56.
• Robert Rebadow (George Morfogen): Prisoner #65R814 - An elderly inmate serving life for murder. He was sentenced to death originally, but in 1965 he survived a botched execution and had his sentence commuted. He is fantastically intuitive (some think as a result of the botched execution), which in the first couple of seasons he explains by nonchalantly saying "God told me"; later he begins to doubt the source and the veracity of his insights.
• Agamemnon Busmalis (Tom Mardirosian): Prisoner #98B242 - Known as "the Mole", he is an expert tunneller and escape artist. He tries to escape Oz three times. The first tunnel he dug was claimed by two Aryans, and he sabotaged the tunnel, getting them killed when it collapsed. He eventually does escape, but gets apprehended when he shows up outside a celebrity's house to get her autograph. He eventually becomes engaged to the secretary of TV personality Miss Sally, although she never shows up to the wedding. While she cheats on him and becomes pregnant with another man's child, ultimately Miss Sally returns to Oz and marries Agamemnon, making him the happiest and luckiest bastard on earth.
• Chucky Pancamo (Chuck Zito): takes over as leader of the Italian inmates after the deaths of Nino Schibetta and Antonio Nappa. A pragmatist, he forms alliances with other gang leaders, subject, of course, to revision as the circumstances warrant. Appears in episodes 36-56.
• Jaz Hoyt (Evan Seinfeld): Prisoner #98H432 - Leader of the Bikers in Em City. A tattooed muscleman in prison for beating up a video store clerk in a dispute over store policy. Appears in episodes 15-18, 24 - 54, 56.
• James Robson (R. E. Rodgers): Prisoner #97R492 - An Aryan who does little of consequence early in the series (aside from making an ill-advised advance on Beecher, which results in the head of his penis being bitten off) but in later seasons becomes Schillinger's boon companion. However, the insulting of an Islamic dentist during the need for a gum transplant causes turmoil for him. After being called Goonga, the dentist intentionally installs the gum tissue of a black man inside of him which causes him to be kicked out of the Aryan Brotherhood for being racially impure. Thus his life is put into complete disarray.
• Arnold "Poet" Jackson (MuMs da Schemer): Prisoner #96J332/98J442 - A black inmate in the Homeboys, Poet has a talent for writing. However, his heroin addiction pulls him under and causes him to get incarcerated and violate his early parole. Remains a full fledged Homeboy throughout the series by helping with the African-American drug trade within the prison.
• Raoul "El Cid" Hernandez (Luis Guzman): Prisoner #98H492 - A leader of the Latino inmates. Appears in episodes 14-27.
• Enrique Morales (David Zayas): Prisoner #00M871 - A leader of the Latino inmates, he makes his first impression on Oz by getting Hernandez killed. Appears in episodes 27-53.
• Ronald Barlog (Brian Bloom): A friend of Keller's who tries to trade the FBI information regarding Keller's previous murders in order to reduce his sentence. Keller snaps his neck during oral sex.
• Richie Hanlon (Jordan Lage): Gets set up for the murder of another inmate by Schillinger. He eventually slips free only to have his neck slit by Nikolai Stanislofsky in the shower room. Stanislofsky was a friend of the inmate Hanlon was believed to have murdered.
• Nikolai Stanislofsky (Philip Casnoff): A Russian Jew who has many conflicts with Ryan O'Reily, resulting in his "electrocution when taking a bath" at the hands of Claire Howell. Appears in episodes 19 - 31.
• Shirley Bellinger (Kathryn Erbe): Prisoner #97B642 - The first and only female inmate of Oz, she was sentenced to death for murdering her daughter. She is housed in the Death Row among other prisoners sentenced to death. Shirley enjoyed teasing the other inmates, using her sexuality to hide dark secrets about her marriage. Appears in episodes 11-28, 50.
• Zahir Arif (Granville Adams) (1st-6th Season)
• Timmy Kirk (Sean Dugan) (2nd, 4th-6th Season)
• Paul Markstrom (O.L. Duke) (1st Season)
• Joey D'Angelo (Goodfella Mike G.)
• Jefferson Keane (Leon): Prisoner #97K186 (1st Season)
• Antonio Nappa (Mark Margolis) (2nd-3rd Season)
• Johnny Post (Tim McAdams) (1st Season)
• Ricardo Alvarez (Tomas Milian): Prisoner #43A515
• William Giles (Austin Pendleton) (1998, 2000-2002)
• Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier (Luke Perry) (2001-2002)
• Desmond Mobay/Detective John Basil (Lance Reddick)
• Dino Ortolani (Jon Seda) (killed in the first episode)
• Carmen Guerra (Otto Sanchez) (1998-end of series)
• Emilio Sanchez (Jose Soto)
• Donald Groves (Sean Whitesell) (1st Season)
• Omar White (Michael Wright) (4th-6th Season)

[edit] Prison Staff

The corrections officer (COs) are mostly white (predominantly Irish and Italian) with many black and some Latino officers. The Warden, Leo Glynn is African American and started off at Oz as a CO. Most of the COs come from lower socio-economic classes. Some are amoral and prone to corruption. The main unit manager, Tim McManus, is the only authority figure who has not started off as a guard and this thereby gives him a different point of view for how to deal with the inmates. The rest of the non-correctional staff, such as Dr. Gloria Nathan and psychiatrist "Sister Pete" Reimondo, have a much more humane view of prisoners, and often push Glynn and the others to see the inmates as human beings. Overall, the staff is always conflicted, trying to manage internal problems while keeping the public calm as to how the prison is being managed.

• Warden Leo Glynn played by Ernie Hudson. A conflicted person trying to maintain law and order in an often chaotic environment. He does what he can to manage every conflict present in Oz. Sister Pete calls him "the best man for the worst job." Appears in episodes 1-55.
• Tim McManus played by Terry Kinney. A liberal idealist who forms Emerald City for purposes of making a perfect prison where rehabilitation and conflict are resolved. Often seen as weak for supposedly soft approaches to dealing with the inmates, he still manages to come out on top of many situations. Appears in episodes 1 - 26, 28-56.
• Sister Peter Marie played by Rita Moreno. A psychiatrist and nun, she is the main force of good inside of the prison and often is helpful to McManus, Father Ray Mukada and Nathan in whatever conflict they are trying to solve. Gave serious thought to leaving the church after developing feelings for Chris Keller.
• Diane Wittlesey played by Edie Falco. A CO who is faced with managing several issues at home, a relationship with McManus, and being fair to the inmates. Appears in episodes 1-18, 20-24.
• Father Ray Mukada played by B. D. Wong. A Catholic priest who often provides spiritual counsel to many of the inmates, especially Miguel Alvarez. He assists Sister Pete in being the main force of good on the show. Appears in episodes 2-46, 49-56.
• Dr. Gloria Nathan played by Lauren Velez. A prison doctor who leads the prison hospital in providing care for several of the inmates within Oz. A good person, she deals with conflict all the time, whether it is from the inmates such as Ryan O'Reily, or state medical boards. She manages to come out calmly throughout any conflict.
• Claire Howell played by Kristin Rohde. A female CO, she is extremely unstable and prone to sadistic sexual violence. She has sexual relationships with several staff members and inmates in order to dominate them. She eventually begins to change after learning that she is pregnant, probably by Carlos Martinez. Appears in episodes 17-39, 41-56.
• Sean Murphy played by Robert Clohessy. An Irish CO, Murphy is the staff member most trusted by McManus. A fair and confident officer, Murphy maintains order to the best of his ability in Oz while doing what he can to support McManus' ideology. He is more honest and competent than the other guards and Warden Glynn also holds him in high regard. Appears in episodes 18-55.
• Clayton Hughes played by Seth Gilliam. A young and conflicted African American officer, Hughes is very close to Glynn. Hughes' father was Glynn's best friend and was killed while working as a CO when Hughes was seven years old. After being convinced by Adebisi that his father's murder was racially motivated, Hughes becomes a Black Militant and attempts to murder the governor. Hughes is sent to Unit-J in Oz which is meant for ex-cops and ex-correctional officers. In Unit-J he kills Desmond Mobay aka John Basil. Then he is sent to Solitary, where he gets "accidentally" killed when attempting to assassinate Leo Glynn.
• Travis Smith played by Jerome Preston Bates. An African American corrections officer, he primarily runs the isolation ward at Oz. He is briefly promoted to the head CO by Unit Manager Martin Querns when a virtually all black correctional staff and prisoner population are present in Emerald City.
• Karl Metzger played by Bill Fagerbakke. A white supremacist guard who took over Wittlesey's position in Emerald City after she was transferred to General Population. He is secretly a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, and once did a favor for two Aryans by forcing Busmalis and Rebadow to give up their cell, which contained a tunnel. Tim McManus found out that he has connections with the Aryans, but couldn't do anything about it before Metzger was killed by Beecher.
• Martin Querns played by Reg E. Cathey. A jaded and results-oriented black man, Querns is hired by Glynn after pressure by community leaders to hire an African American Unit Manager in Oz. Querns, as told through a conversation to Adebisi, is only different from the black inmates in that he has been smart enough to have never been arrested for dealing drugs. The complete opposite of McManus, he believes that drugs are good for the prisoners because they subdue them until they're incapable of any discipline problems. He runs Emerald City by making Adebisi and his supporters the main trustees, allowing them to do all the drugs that they wish as long as no violence occurs. Kareem Said and McManus completely oppose this which leads to his firing. His efficiency, however, promotes him to the position of warden at several state correctional facilities including Oz.
• Officer Mike Healy (Steve Ryan)

[edit] Others

• Governor James Devlin played by Zeljko Ivanek. A right-wing politician, Governor Devlin represents all extreme mechanisms of law and order necessary to keep society crime free.^{[citation needed]} He passes several acts to minimize prisoner rights and increase law enforcement spending. Disliked by several staff members and the vast majority of the inmates, Devlin eventually is in a sea of controversy once a city mayor whom he was politically involved with is sent to Oz for conspiring to commit a racially motivated bombing.
• Miss Sally's Schoolyard (Miss Sally played by Whitney Allen) is a puppet show that the inmates enjoy watching due to the fact that Miss Sally has large breasts.