In this fact-based story, a convict is confined to the dungeons of Alcatraz for three years in isolation after a failed escape. When he at last emerges from the total darkness, he's confused, savage, barely human, and he immediately kills the stoolie who ratted on his escape. It's an open-and-shut case of Murder One. But his resolute attorney puts Alcatraz and its sadistic associate warden on trial in his client's behalf.