The Sentence
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| The Outer Limits episode | |
|---|---|
| “The Sentence” | |
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 22 |
| Guest star(s) | David Hyde Pierce as Dr. Jack Henson, Andrea Roth as Dana Elwin, Garwin Sanford as Senator Meade, J. Douglas Stewart as Watts, Robyn Driscoll as Detective, Tamsin Kelsey as Dr. Glass, Dave Ward as Giant Convict |
| Writer(s) | Melissa Rosenberg |
| Director | Joseph Scanlan |
| Production no. | 44 |
| Original airdate | 4 August 1996 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| “Vanishing Act” | “Bits of Love” |
"The Sentence" is an episode of The Outer Limits television series. It first aired on 4 August 1996, and is the final episode of the second season.
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
Dr. Jack Henson creates a virtual prison — an environment in which convicts experience a life sentence in a harsh regime in just a few hours of real time.
[edit] Opening narration
- "Crime and punishment... an age-old dilemma. Man has long sought a solution to society's ills. But at what point does the punishment itself... become a crime?"
[edit] Plot synopsis
Dr. Jack Henson subjects a prisoner to his experiments despite the prisoner repeatedly claiming his innocence. The procedure is designed to make a prisoner create a virtual prison where their feelings of guilt literally convicts them. When the prisoner begins to have seizures Dr. Henson realizes the man had indeed been telling the truth and had been innocent. Since the machine was not programmed to deal with a man who had no guilt it had caused the man to enter into a virtual prison to which he could not escape. He then hooks himself up to the same machine and attempts to retrieve the man from the virtual reality prison before it's too late. Dr. Henson succeeds and with time to spare. However, the moment of relief was short as Dr. Henson is charged for reckless endangerment of the prisoner and sentenced to jail time. Upon arrival at prison, Dr. Henson is tortured by other inmates and by the floors electrical discharge when he tries to escape. We then see him living out his life in the prison spending time suffering abuse and loneliness until suddenly he awakens in the lab from the original scene.
In the end it turns out he got the original prisoner free from the virtual prison in time but because he felt guilt over what was done he had inadvertently caused himself to be incarcerated in the virtual prison. Apparently the level of guilt was so great he spent what felt like a whole life term. Realizing how horrible his experience was he tries to destroy the machine only to be restrained and escorted out. The Senator impressed with the machine approves the use of it for the state.
[edit] Closing narration
- "Sometimes it is an easy thing for a man to cry out for retribution until he himself has walked in the footsteps... of those suffering the penalty."
