Vernon Schillinger
Encyclopedia
Vernon Schillinger is a fictional character, played by American actor J. K. Simmons
, on the HBO series Oz
.
Schillinger is the head of The Aryan Brotherhood in Oz
. An ardent racist, he is serving an eight-year sentence for aggravated assault, for beating up a black drug dealer with a crowbar for selling drugs to his sons.
Schillinger indulges in varying degrees of sexual sadism, especially toward fellow inmate Tobias Beecher
, whom he rape
s to "initiate" him into prison life. In addition to Beecher, Schillinger commits several acts of rape over the series against weaker white inmates; ironically, he is virulently homophobic
. Schillinger is also quick to have the Brotherhood kill other inmates to prove that the Aryans in Oz are a legitimate threat to the rest of the inmate population.
Schillinger has a number of major family issues throughout the series: his father, whom he hates, taught him everything he knows about racism; his sons are all amoral drug addicts; he has disowned his sister for marrying a Jew, and his daughter-in-law is a prostitute with a baby of possibly mixed race. (A blood test would later prove that the baby is his son Hank
's daughter.)
Schillinger has been raised by his father, Heinrick, to believe in a white supremacist ideology, developing a hatred for blacks, Jews, and other non-Aryan
people. Throughout the series he uses ethnic slurs to refer to blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Arabs, and Italians. Many members of Oz's Aryans who follow him are imprisoned for hate crimes (James Robson, Mark Mack
, and Wolfgang Cutler
, among others) and readily affiliate themselves with the Brotherhood under Schillinger's leadership.
Despite often committing extremely cruel and sadistic acts, Schillinger does show a humane side in the show. He cares for his sons deeply and at times, blames himself for the way they turned out, remarking "they became the men I made them". Despite his status as a leader, he seeks approval from his superiors such as former mentor Wilson Loewen, who views him as having "a big ego and nothing to back it up".
Schillinger strongly objects to his name being mispronounced, averring that it should be "Schilling - ur", not "Schillin - jur".
s. Their main goal is to instill fear in darker-skinned inmates who wish to take advantage of any whites in the prison. Schillinger begins Season 1 as a cellmate of Tobias Beecher
, a white lawyer imprisoned for vehicular manslaughter, who is also an educated family man unfit for prison life. After Beecher is harassed by his monstrous black cellmate Simon Adebisi
, Schillinger offers to let him move into his cell as long as he does not implicate Adebisi to Unit Manager Tim McManus
. Beecher naively accepts the offer, unaware that Schillinger is a jailhouse rapist and that the Aryans only pull moves like this to make sexual slaves
, or "prags", out of the newer inmates. As a result, Schillinger takes advantage of Beecher's weakness once inside the cell and rapes him repeatedly, then burns a swastika
on his right buttock.
Throughout this season, Schillinger is wary of the high-profile leader of the Muslim
prisoners, Minister Kareem Saïd
, because of Saïd's ability to gain access to and sometimes influence McManus and other officials. He fears that Saïd could mobilize the black inmates in a takeover of the prison.
Schillinger frequently humiliates and sodomizes
Beecher, once forcing some of the drag queens to doll him up like a woman and sing in the prison talent show. To cope with the almost daily rapes and degradation, Beecher begins using heroin, much to Schillinger's disgust. Schillinger forces him to walk past some black inmates wearing a shirt bearing a Confederate Flag in hopes that Beecher will be murdered. Beecher, however, after taking some PCP
, flies into a rage and throws a chair at Schillinger, shattering the "pod" (cell) glass and hitting Schillinger in the eye, temporarily blinding
him. Once out of the hospital, McManus transfers him to "gen pop" (general prison population).
Following the transfer, Schillinger threatens Beecher in the gym. Beecher, however, reacts fiercely, beating Schillinger unconscious with free weights before defecating on his face in front of some of Emerald City's most powerful inmates. This gains Beecher the respect of several inmates, such as Ryan O'Reily
, Miguel Alvarez
and even Adebisi, and harms the Brotherhood's reputation. Consequently, Beecher is sent to the hole. Meanwhile, Schillinger realizes how vulnerable he has become in "gen pop". He tells McManus how badly he wants to be parole
d in his upcoming review so he can be with his family. McManus reluctantly allows him to move back into Emerald City.
In Emerald City, a riot breaks out, during which Schillinger lies low, allowing biker inmate Scott Ross
to command his Aryan troops. During the riot, Schillinger sees Correctional Officer Diane Wittlesey
murder Ross after the SORT team supplies her with a gun.
Later, when Emerald City is reopened, Schillinger is up for parole and Beecher begins taunting him and threatening to ruin his chance at freedom. Fed up, Schillinger goes to various inmates and attempts to hire one of them to kill his former whipping boy. Every other gang in Oz (the Bikers, the Italians, the Latinos, and the Homeboys
) refuse, and mock Schillinger for being too weak to do his own dirty work. Beecher soon learns of Schillinger's actions and, with the help of Diane Wittlesey and Tim McManus, not only gets Schillinger's parole hearing canceled, but extends his sentence by 10 years with a charge of conspiracy
to commit murder as well, and he is moved out of Emerald City permanently.
In the meantime, Schillinger's sons, who are in their late teens, have been kicked out of their grandfather's house for their general bad behavior and drug problems. Schillinger is then brutally attacked by some black inmates in general population who find out about his role as a weakened leader of the Aryan Brotherhood. He and a fellow Aryan, Mark Mack
, then decide that the Brotherhood's reputation is at stake, feeling that the other inmates no longer fear them. They then decide to commit a "road kill"; a random killing of a non-white inmate to get the respect of their fellow inmates. They target Jewish inmate Alexander Vogel, then kill him hanging his body upside down with the word "JEW" carved into his chest. Warden Leo Glynn
naturally suspects the Brotherhood, but Schillinger points out that any inmate or gang could have done it with the intention of framing the Aryans. Schillinger further more insults Glynn's racial background, telling him his "people" (i.e., blacks) are just as anti-semitic
as the Aryans, in addition to humming a song praising slavery
during the interrogation. Glynn cannot find any evidence to support his suspicions and the Aryans are not prosecuted for the murder. As a result, the Aryans are once again respected and feared in Oz, and Schillinger renews his plan for revenge against Beecher. He employs Chris Keller
, a bisexual serial killer
who once served time with him in another prison, to play a sick mind game on Beecher to break him down. As the plan goes forward, Beecher is informed of his wife's apparent suicide, and later Schillinger taunts Beecher about it, implying the possibility that Schillinger had her murdered and made it look like a suicide. At about the same time, Cyril O'Reily
, the mentally retarded brother of Irish
inmate Ryan O'Reily
, arrives to Oz; Schillinger soon rapes him.
Meanwhile, Keller seduces Beecher, who then falls in love with him. However, this is all part of a master plan initiated by Schillinger to help break Beecher, by getting him to relapse into alcohol (which caused Beecher to come to Oz in the first place), as well as Keller seducing Beecher. When Beecher is emotionally at his lowest, Schillinger, Keller, and Aryan Brotherhood Sympathizer and prison guard Karl Metzger
ambush Beecher, revealing all that has happened to him as part of Schillinger's revenge plan and then proceed to break both his arms and legs.
assaulting Busmalis for allowing Mack to die in a tunnel from which they were going to escape. Beecher gets out of the hospital, and Keller tells Beecher that he is sorry for hurting him, but Beecher only agrees to believe him if he confesses and testifies against Schillinger and Metzger. Metzger attacks Beecher and Beecher responds by slashing his assailant to death with an interesting weapon: his fingernails, which he has filed to razor-sharp points. McManus does not bother to investigate Metzger's death after learning that he was in fact a full-fledged member of the Brotherhood. When Augustus Hill
testifies against Malcolm Coyle
for murdering an innocent family, Kareem Said asks Schillinger, among other inmates, to help protect Hill. Schillinger agrees because he also is a family man and respects the fact that one member of the family died while serving in Vietnam
.
Murphy starts a boxing
tournament in Em City and Robson agrees to box for the Aryans. Robson and Schillinger continuously taunt Cyril O'Reily for allowing them to get away with raping him. Before the match between Cyril and Robson, Ryan O'Reily pours chloral hydrate
in Robson's water thus allowing his brother to win the fight. The Aryans then leave Cyril alone.
Schillinger's son Andrew
subsequently arrives in Oz for his part in the lynching
of a black man. Schillinger, upset that Andrew is a heroin addict, tells the Brotherhood to ignore his son until he is drug-free. Ryan O'Reily, Keller, and Beecher devise a plan to turn father and son against each other. Ryan stops selling Andrew heroin and tells him that the only way he can now purchase drugs is through the non-white inmates. Beecher befriends Andrew and helps get him off drugs. Their growing friendship angers Schillinger, who confronts Andrew in effort to renew their filial relationship, only to hear his son reject everything he stands for and start to assault
him. Feeling that Andrew has betrayed him and his beliefs, Schillinger arranges for his own son to die of a drug overdose
in the hole courtesy of Officer Len Lopresti
, a Brotherhood sympathizer, who secretly provides Andrew with a highly potent package of heroin.
Beecher, after counseling from Said, tells Schillinger that Andrew's death was a setup. Schillinger attacks Beecher, who is now protected and defended by both Keller and the Muslims. Schillinger and Beecher both end up in the hospital ward as a result of mutual stab wounds. When Schillinger is discharged from the ward, the racial tension is very high in Em City and he realizes that Adebisi is plotting something against the white inmates. He asks all the other whites, including Beecher, Keller, and a Russian Jew, Nikolai Stanislofsky
, to form a bond of solidarity — albeit only a temporary, opportunistic one — to prevent the blacks from taking over the entire prison. As another race riot
is brewing, Glynn locks down the prison.
, visits; Schillinger is actually happy until he later finds out that Hank is only there because Beecher paid him to come. Thinking back to the plan Beecher had with Andrew, Schillinger turns the tables on Beecher, paying Hank to kidnap Beecher's kids. The FBI investigates, but the agent, Agent Pierce Taylor, blames Keller for the kidnapping. Taylor wants Keller on death row
for kidnapping, raping, and murdering three gay
men, and charging him with the kidnapping proves an opportunity. Schillinger then pays Jewish inmate Eli Zabitz
to tell Beecher that Keller is responsible for his son's death, so the two of them go to war while the kidnapping takes place. As this is happening, Schillinger has Hank remove the hand of Beecher's son and ship it to Oz. After Gary's death Father Mukada
asks Schillinger to give up Beecher's daughter after telling him that Beecher had no evil intentions with Hank rather he did what he did to try to make up for what happened to Andrew. Hank returns Holly but the FBI arrests him on the spot. Schillinger is concerned about being given up on an interrogation. Hank, however, is freed from the murder charges on a legal technicality, and Vern begins to breathe easier. Unknown to Schillinger, however, Beecher hires the Italians to murder Hank.
Hank's wife, Carrie, then comes by and tells Schillinger that he is going to become a grandfather. Over the next few months, Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier
comes to Oz for embezzlement
and comforts Schillinger helping him let go of his previous unhappiness and to focus on the birth of his grandchild. Schillinger then asks Sister Peter Marie
to be involved in the interaction sessions, much to Beecher's surprise. During the session, however, Officer Jason Armstrong
takes Schillinger to Glynn's office. In the office, Glynn tells Schillinger that the Massachusetts
State Police have found Hank's body in the woods and he has been found to have been dead for several months. Convinced Beecher is behind his son's death, he enlists Robson to kill his old foe. Keller, however, convinces Schillinger that he is responsible.
Carrie gives birth and Schillinger is indeed happy — until a new inmate, Curtis Bennett, approaches him. A black pimp
, Bennett tells Schillinger that Hank owed him some money over drugs and paid it off by allowing him to pimp out Carrie. He even points out that Carrie's "clients" included black men, and that the child could very well not even be Hank's. Furious, Schillinger demands the truth and forces Carrie to get a paternity test.
As his lieutenant, James Robson, is to stand trial for murder, Schillinger sends the only witness a disturbing letter in solitary that drives him to kill himself. Schillinger also warns Cloutier not to get involved with anything involving the Brotherhood again, but lets him go unharmed. Freed from the murder charge, Said savagely attacks and beats Robson, forcing Warden Glynn to consider locking Oz down. Schillinger then agrees for peace through Cloutier and for the time being there is a truce between the Muslims and Aryans. Beecher, meanwhile, is up for parole, and Schillinger vows to get it denied. Beecher gets provoked by the Aryans and Bikers until Said approaches Schillinger, warning him not to interfere with Beecher's parole. When Beecher's parole is denied, Schillinger attempts to rape him, but Said stabs and nearly kills both him and Robson.
.
A war is about to erupt between the Muslims and Aryans until Sister Pete has a series of Interaction sessions between Beecher, Said, and Schillinger. Schillinger does not go to war with the Muslims, but Robson taunts them continuously. Another war does erupt with the Aryans, however, when FBI Agent Pierce Taylor visits. Taylor tells Schillinger that an Italian mobster named Gaetano Cincetta has confessed to murdering Hank and gone into the witness protection program, because he is testifying against Chucky Pancamo
. The Aryan Brotherhood then attacks the Italian Mafia in the gym; Robson and Schillinger hospitalize Pancamo and the Italian Mob seeks revenge, led by Peter Schibetta
, who makes an unsuccessful attempt on Schillinger and Robson's life. Schibetta is instead gang raped while the Aryans berate him with ethnic slurs (he had previously been raped by Adebisi back in season 2). As this war is occurring, the Aryans do not realize that either outcome will make the black inmates stronger as Burr Redding
, the Homeboys' leader, can now muscle the Italians out of the drug trade. If the Aryans lose, the Muslims also grow stronger, proving the effect of both outcomes. Meanwhile, two new inmates, Adam Guenzel and Franklin Winthrop, arrive. Winthrop is sent to Unit B where black inmate Clarence Seroy
tries to rape him. The Aryans save Winthrop, only to turn him into their sex slave. The Aryans also want to rape Guenzel, but Italian gangster Frank Urbano
stops them from doing so in the gym after Beecher asked the Mafia to protect Guenzel.
In the interaction sessions, Schillinger shares Said's homophobia
, but Said points out that Schillinger has committed sodomy many times, having raped Beecher and Cyril O'Reily, among other inmates. Schillinger denies this, and Beecher attacks him in a rage. He convinces Beecher that he is truly sorry for raping him, but is insincere; he plans to get Beecher's friend, Guenzel, transferred to Unit B so he can rape him. Schillinger offers Beecher a job delivering mail to protective custody (an opportunity to see Keller) if he allows Guenzel to be transferred, unprotected, to Unit B. Beecher accepts the offer, as he now wants nothing to do with his former friend, who was sent to prison for rape. Guenzel is transferred and immediately raped. Meanwhile, James Robson has a toothache and must get his gum tissue replaced. Schillinger suggests that Robson see Dr. Faraj, the Muslim prison dentist. Robson hurls racist insults at Faraj during the visit, and Faraj gets revenge by replacing Robson's tissue with that of a black man. As the whole prison population and the outside Aryan Nation leaders learn of this, Schillinger reluctantly kicks Robson out of the Brotherhood.
Beecher feels remorse
about what has happened to Guenzel, so he attempts to get Sister Pete to talk to him. Guenzel is later killed after Schillinger convinces him to escape, however. Beecher testifies against Schillinger, who is moved to solitary confinement. Before he is sent to solitary, Wolfgang Cutler
, a man imprisoned for decapitating a homosexual, wants to join the Brotherhood. Cutler is told he must kill a high ranking black inmate for initiation. He targets Said, but is unsuccessful, as black inmate Omar White
attacks him and nearly kills him.
, is on trial for allegations that he assisted the Ku Klux Klan
in the racially motivated murder of two young black girls in 1963. This trial leads to a full-scale race riot in the city, which spreads into Oz, putting the entire prison in lockdown.
When the lockdown is over, Loewen is sent to Oz and is put in Unit J with Beecher. Beecher saves his life, and Schillinger is so grateful that he agrees not to interfere with Beecher's parole, which is ultimately successful. But Keller, whose death sentence
is overturned, intervenes, and gets Beecher sent right back to Oz. When Beecher tells Keller that he wants nothing to do with him after coming back to Oz, Schillinger decides to call a truce with Keller.
In a desperate attempt to win back Beecher's love, Keller devises a plan to get rid of Schillinger. During the prison production of Macbeth
, in which both Schillinger and Beecher have been cast, he replaces a prop knife with a real one so Beecher will actually stab Schillinger. Before the play, Schillinger's sister visits, telling him that their father is dying. As he hates his father, he claims that he doesn't care. He does realize, however, that he has been set up at the last second after Beecher stabs him in the play's climactic
scene (unbeknownst to Beecher himself), and sees that he is going to die, cursing Keller for betraying him. New warden Martin Querns
and Sister Pete investigate and declare that Schillinger's death was an accident and Beecher is never charged with Schillinger's death.
J. K. Simmons
Jonathan Kimble "J. K." Simmons is an American actor. He is best known for his roles on television as Dr. Emil Skoda in NBC's Law & Order , Assistant Police Chief Will Pope in TNT's The Closer, neo-Nazi Vernon Schillinger in the HBO prison drama Oz, on film as J...
, on the HBO series Oz
Oz (TV series)
Oz is an American television drama series created by Tom Fontana, who also wrote or co-wrote all of the series' 56 episodes . It was the first one-hour dramatic television series to be produced by premium cable network HBO. Oz premiered on July 12, 1997 and ran for six seasons...
.
Character overview
Prisoner #92S110. Convicted October 21, 1992 – Aggravated assault in the first degree. Sentence: Eight years, eligible for parole in five. Convicted in 1998 of conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to ten additional years without the possibility of parole.Schillinger is the head of The Aryan Brotherhood in Oz
The Aryan Brotherhood in Oz
The Aryan Brotherhood in the TV series Oz is a gang of white supremacist inmates led by Vernon Schillinger.-Overview:The Aryans of Oz are a loosely organized gang of white supremacist inmates. As a minority, the Caucasian-American prisoners of the gang mostly come from criminal backgrounds already...
. An ardent racist, he is serving an eight-year sentence for aggravated assault, for beating up a black drug dealer with a crowbar for selling drugs to his sons.
Schillinger indulges in varying degrees of sexual sadism, especially toward fellow inmate Tobias Beecher
Tobias Beecher
Tobias Beecher is a main character on the television show Oz, played by Lee Tergesen. He is one of only eight regular characters to survive the entire run of the show...
, whom he rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
s to "initiate" him into prison life. In addition to Beecher, Schillinger commits several acts of rape over the series against weaker white inmates; ironically, he is virulently homophobic
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
. Schillinger is also quick to have the Brotherhood kill other inmates to prove that the Aryans in Oz are a legitimate threat to the rest of the inmate population.
Schillinger has a number of major family issues throughout the series: his father, whom he hates, taught him everything he knows about racism; his sons are all amoral drug addicts; he has disowned his sister for marrying a Jew, and his daughter-in-law is a prostitute with a baby of possibly mixed race. (A blood test would later prove that the baby is his son Hank
Hank Schillinger
Henry "Hank" Schillinger, played by Andrew Barchilon, is a fictional character on the HBO drama Oz.-Character overview:His father Vern Schillinger is an inmate who runs the Aryan Brotherhood within Oz. An amoral drug addict, Hank, like his younger brother Andrew, has been raised on white...
's daughter.)
Schillinger has been raised by his father, Heinrick, to believe in a white supremacist ideology, developing a hatred for blacks, Jews, and other non-Aryan
Aryan
Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...
people. Throughout the series he uses ethnic slurs to refer to blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Arabs, and Italians. Many members of Oz's Aryans who follow him are imprisoned for hate crimes (James Robson, Mark Mack
Mark Mack
Mark Mack is a fictional character in the HBO series Oz, portrayed by Leif Riddell.-Character overview:Prisoner #96M542. Convicted June 1, 1996 - Murder in the second degree, vandalism...
, and Wolfgang Cutler
Wolfgang Cutler
Wolfgang Cutler is a fictional character on the television show Oz, played by Brendan Kelly.-Character overview:Prisoner #02C773. Convicted February 20, 2003 - Murder in the first degree. Sentence: Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole....
, among others) and readily affiliate themselves with the Brotherhood under Schillinger's leadership.
Despite often committing extremely cruel and sadistic acts, Schillinger does show a humane side in the show. He cares for his sons deeply and at times, blames himself for the way they turned out, remarking "they became the men I made them". Despite his status as a leader, he seeks approval from his superiors such as former mentor Wilson Loewen, who views him as having "a big ego and nothing to back it up".
Schillinger strongly objects to his name being mispronounced, averring that it should be "Schilling - ur", not "Schillin - jur".
Season 1
Schillinger is the head of the Aryan Brotherhood, a gang of white supremacistWhite supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
s. Their main goal is to instill fear in darker-skinned inmates who wish to take advantage of any whites in the prison. Schillinger begins Season 1 as a cellmate of Tobias Beecher
Tobias Beecher
Tobias Beecher is a main character on the television show Oz, played by Lee Tergesen. He is one of only eight regular characters to survive the entire run of the show...
, a white lawyer imprisoned for vehicular manslaughter, who is also an educated family man unfit for prison life. After Beecher is harassed by his monstrous black cellmate Simon Adebisi
Simon Adebisi
Simon Adebisi is a fictional character played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje on the HBO dramatic series Oz, set in an experimental prison unit.-Character overview:Prisoner #93A234. Convicted May 2, 1993 - Murder in the first degree...
, Schillinger offers to let him move into his cell as long as he does not implicate Adebisi to Unit Manager Tim McManus
Tim McManus
Tim McManus is a fictional character on HBO's prison drama Oz, played by Terry Kinney.-Character overview:McManus, the idealistic manager of Emerald City, is unlike the rest of the staff members at Oz as he has never been a CO, has a college education, and generally believes in the inmates as...
. Beecher naively accepts the offer, unaware that Schillinger is a jailhouse rapist and that the Aryans only pull moves like this to make sexual slaves
Sexual slavery
Sexual slavery is when unwilling people are coerced into slavery for sexual exploitation. The incidence of sexual slavery by country has been studied and tabulated by UNESCO, with the cooperation of various international agencies...
, or "prags", out of the newer inmates. As a result, Schillinger takes advantage of Beecher's weakness once inside the cell and rapes him repeatedly, then burns a swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
on his right buttock.
Throughout this season, Schillinger is wary of the high-profile leader of the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
prisoners, Minister Kareem Saïd
Kareem Said
Kareem Saïd is a character played by British actor Eamonn Walker on the American television show Oz.-Character overview:Prisoner #97S444. Convicted June 6, 1997 - Arson in the second degree. Sentence: 18 years, eligible for parole in five...
, because of Saïd's ability to gain access to and sometimes influence McManus and other officials. He fears that Saïd could mobilize the black inmates in a takeover of the prison.
Schillinger frequently humiliates and sodomizes
Sodomy
Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
Beecher, once forcing some of the drag queens to doll him up like a woman and sing in the prison talent show. To cope with the almost daily rapes and degradation, Beecher begins using heroin, much to Schillinger's disgust. Schillinger forces him to walk past some black inmates wearing a shirt bearing a Confederate Flag in hopes that Beecher will be murdered. Beecher, however, after taking some PCP
Phencyclidine
Phencyclidine , commonly initialized as PCP and known colloquially as angel dust, is a recreational dissociative drug...
, flies into a rage and throws a chair at Schillinger, shattering the "pod" (cell) glass and hitting Schillinger in the eye, temporarily blinding
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
him. Once out of the hospital, McManus transfers him to "gen pop" (general prison population).
Following the transfer, Schillinger threatens Beecher in the gym. Beecher, however, reacts fiercely, beating Schillinger unconscious with free weights before defecating on his face in front of some of Emerald City's most powerful inmates. This gains Beecher the respect of several inmates, such as Ryan O'Reily
Ryan O'Reily
Ryan O'Reily is a main character in the television series Oz. He was portrayed by Dean Winters from 1997 to 2003.-Character overview:Prisoner #97P904. Convicted July 12, 1997 - Two counts of vehicular manslaughter, five counts of reckless endangerment, possession of a controlled substance,...
, Miguel Alvarez
Miguel Alvarez
Miguel Alvarez is a fictional character played by American actor Kirk Acevedo on the television show Oz. He is the main Latino inmate in the series. He is a gang member of El Norte and of Cuban descent.-Character overview:...
and even Adebisi, and harms the Brotherhood's reputation. Consequently, Beecher is sent to the hole. Meanwhile, Schillinger realizes how vulnerable he has become in "gen pop". He tells McManus how badly he wants to be parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
d in his upcoming review so he can be with his family. McManus reluctantly allows him to move back into Emerald City.
In Emerald City, a riot breaks out, during which Schillinger lies low, allowing biker inmate Scott Ross
Scott Ross (Oz)
Scott Ross, played by Stephen Gevedon, is a fictional character on the HBO drama Oz.right|thumb|Stephen Gevedon as Scott Ross.-Character overview:...
to command his Aryan troops. During the riot, Schillinger sees Correctional Officer Diane Wittlesey
Diane Wittlesey
Officer Diane Wittlesey is a fictional character played by Edie Falco on the television program Oz.-Character overview:Oz's first female correctional officer is a divorcee and single mother, who has suffered spousal abuse, poverty and substance abuse; through all of that she gained a pretty good...
murder Ross after the SORT team supplies her with a gun.
Season 2
An investigation of the riot is led by law school dean Alvah Case. Despite the offer from Case for a letter of recommendation for parole, Schillinger covers up several details using his knowledge of Scott Ross' murder to blackmail Correctional Officer Wittlesey. All of the prisoners have been moved to General Population as Emerald City undergoes repairs.Later, when Emerald City is reopened, Schillinger is up for parole and Beecher begins taunting him and threatening to ruin his chance at freedom. Fed up, Schillinger goes to various inmates and attempts to hire one of them to kill his former whipping boy. Every other gang in Oz (the Bikers, the Italians, the Latinos, and the Homeboys
Homeboys of Oz
The Homeboys are a gang of black prisoners in Oz involved in the prison drug trade. As 78% of Oz's prisoners are black , their membership is larger than any other prison gang in Oz.-Overview:...
) refuse, and mock Schillinger for being too weak to do his own dirty work. Beecher soon learns of Schillinger's actions and, with the help of Diane Wittlesey and Tim McManus, not only gets Schillinger's parole hearing canceled, but extends his sentence by 10 years with a charge of conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
to commit murder as well, and he is moved out of Emerald City permanently.
In the meantime, Schillinger's sons, who are in their late teens, have been kicked out of their grandfather's house for their general bad behavior and drug problems. Schillinger is then brutally attacked by some black inmates in general population who find out about his role as a weakened leader of the Aryan Brotherhood. He and a fellow Aryan, Mark Mack
Mark Mack
Mark Mack is a fictional character in the HBO series Oz, portrayed by Leif Riddell.-Character overview:Prisoner #96M542. Convicted June 1, 1996 - Murder in the second degree, vandalism...
, then decide that the Brotherhood's reputation is at stake, feeling that the other inmates no longer fear them. They then decide to commit a "road kill"; a random killing of a non-white inmate to get the respect of their fellow inmates. They target Jewish inmate Alexander Vogel, then kill him hanging his body upside down with the word "JEW" carved into his chest. Warden Leo Glynn
Warden Leo Glynn
Leo Glynn is a fictional character on the HBO drama Oz. He is the warden of the Oswald state correctional facility-Character overview:...
naturally suspects the Brotherhood, but Schillinger points out that any inmate or gang could have done it with the intention of framing the Aryans. Schillinger further more insults Glynn's racial background, telling him his "people" (i.e., blacks) are just as anti-semitic
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
as the Aryans, in addition to humming a song praising slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
during the interrogation. Glynn cannot find any evidence to support his suspicions and the Aryans are not prosecuted for the murder. As a result, the Aryans are once again respected and feared in Oz, and Schillinger renews his plan for revenge against Beecher. He employs Chris Keller
Chris Keller
Chris Keller is a fictional character on the HBO series Oz, portrayed by Christopher Meloni from 1998 to 2003.-Character overview:Prisoner ID 98K514. Convicted June 16, 1998 - felony murder, two counts of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, robbery, driving under the influence and...
, a bisexual serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
who once served time with him in another prison, to play a sick mind game on Beecher to break him down. As the plan goes forward, Beecher is informed of his wife's apparent suicide, and later Schillinger taunts Beecher about it, implying the possibility that Schillinger had her murdered and made it look like a suicide. At about the same time, Cyril O'Reily
Cyril O'Reily
Cyril O'Reily is a fictional character, played by American actor Scott William Winters, on the HBO drama Oz. He is also mentioned in the companion book , p. 58.-Character overview:...
, the mentally retarded brother of Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
inmate Ryan O'Reily
Ryan O'Reily
Ryan O'Reily is a main character in the television series Oz. He was portrayed by Dean Winters from 1997 to 2003.-Character overview:Prisoner #97P904. Convicted July 12, 1997 - Two counts of vehicular manslaughter, five counts of reckless endangerment, possession of a controlled substance,...
, arrives to Oz; Schillinger soon rapes him.
Meanwhile, Keller seduces Beecher, who then falls in love with him. However, this is all part of a master plan initiated by Schillinger to help break Beecher, by getting him to relapse into alcohol (which caused Beecher to come to Oz in the first place), as well as Keller seducing Beecher. When Beecher is emotionally at his lowest, Schillinger, Keller, and Aryan Brotherhood Sympathizer and prison guard Karl Metzger
Karl Metzger
Karl Metzger was a fictional guard on the HBO dramatic series Oz, played by Bill Fagerbakke.-Character overview:Karl Metzger is a correctional officer assigned as supervisor of the Emerald City unit of Oswald Prison; A neo-Nazi, Metzger uses his power to intimidate prisoners and assist the Aryan...
ambush Beecher, revealing all that has happened to him as part of Schillinger's revenge plan and then proceed to break both his arms and legs.
Season 3
This season starts off with Correctional Officer (and covert ally to the Aryans) Karl MetzgerKarl Metzger
Karl Metzger was a fictional guard on the HBO dramatic series Oz, played by Bill Fagerbakke.-Character overview:Karl Metzger is a correctional officer assigned as supervisor of the Emerald City unit of Oswald Prison; A neo-Nazi, Metzger uses his power to intimidate prisoners and assist the Aryan...
assaulting Busmalis for allowing Mack to die in a tunnel from which they were going to escape. Beecher gets out of the hospital, and Keller tells Beecher that he is sorry for hurting him, but Beecher only agrees to believe him if he confesses and testifies against Schillinger and Metzger. Metzger attacks Beecher and Beecher responds by slashing his assailant to death with an interesting weapon: his fingernails, which he has filed to razor-sharp points. McManus does not bother to investigate Metzger's death after learning that he was in fact a full-fledged member of the Brotherhood. When Augustus Hill
Augustus Hill
Augustus Hill is a fictional character, played by Harold Perrineau on the American television show Oz, serving as the show's narrator.-Character overview:...
testifies against Malcolm Coyle
Malcolm Coyle
Malcolm "Snake" Coyle is a prisoner on the television show Oz played by Treach of the rap group Naughty By Nature.-Character overview:Prisoner #99C122. Convicted January 17, 1999 - Grand larceny, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, assault of a police officer...
for murdering an innocent family, Kareem Said asks Schillinger, among other inmates, to help protect Hill. Schillinger agrees because he also is a family man and respects the fact that one member of the family died while serving in Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
Murphy starts a boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
tournament in Em City and Robson agrees to box for the Aryans. Robson and Schillinger continuously taunt Cyril O'Reily for allowing them to get away with raping him. Before the match between Cyril and Robson, Ryan O'Reily pours chloral hydrate
Chloral hydrate
Chloral hydrate is a sedative and hypnotic drug as well as a chemical reagent and precursor. The name chloral hydrate indicates that it is formed from chloral by the addition of one molecule of water. Its chemical formula is C2H3Cl3O2....
in Robson's water thus allowing his brother to win the fight. The Aryans then leave Cyril alone.
Schillinger's son Andrew
Andrew Schillinger
Andrew Peter Schillinger, played by Frederick Koehler, is a fictional character in the HBO drama Oz.-Character overview:Prisoner 99S333. Convicted February 16, 1999 - Murder in the second degree, possession of narcotics...
subsequently arrives in Oz for his part in the lynching
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
of a black man. Schillinger, upset that Andrew is a heroin addict, tells the Brotherhood to ignore his son until he is drug-free. Ryan O'Reily, Keller, and Beecher devise a plan to turn father and son against each other. Ryan stops selling Andrew heroin and tells him that the only way he can now purchase drugs is through the non-white inmates. Beecher befriends Andrew and helps get him off drugs. Their growing friendship angers Schillinger, who confronts Andrew in effort to renew their filial relationship, only to hear his son reject everything he stands for and start to assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
him. Feeling that Andrew has betrayed him and his beliefs, Schillinger arranges for his own son to die of a drug overdose
Drug overdose
The term drug overdose describes the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities greater than are recommended or generally practiced...
in the hole courtesy of Officer Len Lopresti
Len Lopresti
Len Lopresti is a fictional character on the HBO drama Oz, played by Carl DiMaggio.-Character overview:A corrections cfficer in the prison, Lopresti is a mean-spirited, racist bully who terrorizes non-white inmates...
, a Brotherhood sympathizer, who secretly provides Andrew with a highly potent package of heroin.
Beecher, after counseling from Said, tells Schillinger that Andrew's death was a setup. Schillinger attacks Beecher, who is now protected and defended by both Keller and the Muslims. Schillinger and Beecher both end up in the hospital ward as a result of mutual stab wounds. When Schillinger is discharged from the ward, the racial tension is very high in Em City and he realizes that Adebisi is plotting something against the white inmates. He asks all the other whites, including Beecher, Keller, and a Russian Jew, Nikolai Stanislofsky
Nikolai Stanislofsky
Nikolai Petrovich Stanislofsky was a prisoner character played by Philip Casnoff on HBO's Oz in Season 3 and 4.-Character overview:Prisoner 99S233. Convicted February 14, 1999 - Possession of stolen goods with intent to sell. Sentence: 15 years, up for parole in five.-Season 3:Nikolai was a...
, to form a bond of solidarity — albeit only a temporary, opportunistic one — to prevent the blacks from taking over the entire prison. As another race riot
Race riot
A race riot or racial riot is an outbreak of violent civil disorder in which race is a key factor. A phenomenon frequently confused with the concept of 'race riot' is sectarian violence, which involves public mass violence or conflict over non-racial factors.-United States:The term had entered the...
is brewing, Glynn locks down the prison.
Season 4
Glynn tells the white, Latino, and black inmates separately that if one incident of racial tension occurs, the prison will be permanently locked down. Schillinger still feels that the black inmates are up to something and remains wary. In the mean time, his younger son, HankHank Schillinger
Henry "Hank" Schillinger, played by Andrew Barchilon, is a fictional character on the HBO drama Oz.-Character overview:His father Vern Schillinger is an inmate who runs the Aryan Brotherhood within Oz. An amoral drug addict, Hank, like his younger brother Andrew, has been raised on white...
, visits; Schillinger is actually happy until he later finds out that Hank is only there because Beecher paid him to come. Thinking back to the plan Beecher had with Andrew, Schillinger turns the tables on Beecher, paying Hank to kidnap Beecher's kids. The FBI investigates, but the agent, Agent Pierce Taylor, blames Keller for the kidnapping. Taylor wants Keller on death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
for kidnapping, raping, and murdering three gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
men, and charging him with the kidnapping proves an opportunity. Schillinger then pays Jewish inmate Eli Zabitz
Eli Zabitz
Eli Zabitz is a fictional character, played by David Johansen, on the HBO prison series Oz.-Character overview:Prisoner 96Z858, Eli Zabitz. Convicted April 1, 1996 for aggravated assault. Sentence of nine years up for parole in six....
to tell Beecher that Keller is responsible for his son's death, so the two of them go to war while the kidnapping takes place. As this is happening, Schillinger has Hank remove the hand of Beecher's son and ship it to Oz. After Gary's death Father Mukada
Father Ray Mukada
Father Ray Mukada is a character on the HBO television series Oz, played by B. D. Wong.right|thumb|B.D. Wong as Father Ray Mukada.-Character history:...
asks Schillinger to give up Beecher's daughter after telling him that Beecher had no evil intentions with Hank rather he did what he did to try to make up for what happened to Andrew. Hank returns Holly but the FBI arrests him on the spot. Schillinger is concerned about being given up on an interrogation. Hank, however, is freed from the murder charges on a legal technicality, and Vern begins to breathe easier. Unknown to Schillinger, however, Beecher hires the Italians to murder Hank.
Hank's wife, Carrie, then comes by and tells Schillinger that he is going to become a grandfather. Over the next few months, Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier
Jeremiah Cloutier
Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier is a fictional character on the HBO prison drama Oz, portrayed by Luke Perry.-Character overview:Prisoner #00C966. Convicted December 27, 2000 - Embezzlement and petty larceny. Sentence: nine years, up for parole in five....
comes to Oz for embezzlement
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
and comforts Schillinger helping him let go of his previous unhappiness and to focus on the birth of his grandchild. Schillinger then asks Sister Peter Marie
Sister Peter Marie
Sister Peter Marie Reimondo aka Sister Pete is a fictional character on the HBO drama Oz played by Rita Moreno.right|thumb|Rita Moreno as Sister Peter Marie.-Creation:...
to be involved in the interaction sessions, much to Beecher's surprise. During the session, however, Officer Jason Armstrong
Jason Armstrong
Jason Armstrong is a character at HBO drama Oz played by actor Timothy L. Brown.-Character Overview:A tall, muscular guard, he is one of the favorites of both Warden Leo Glynn and Unit Manager Tim McManus...
takes Schillinger to Glynn's office. In the office, Glynn tells Schillinger that the Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
State Police have found Hank's body in the woods and he has been found to have been dead for several months. Convinced Beecher is behind his son's death, he enlists Robson to kill his old foe. Keller, however, convinces Schillinger that he is responsible.
Carrie gives birth and Schillinger is indeed happy — until a new inmate, Curtis Bennett, approaches him. A black pimp
Pimp
A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...
, Bennett tells Schillinger that Hank owed him some money over drugs and paid it off by allowing him to pimp out Carrie. He even points out that Carrie's "clients" included black men, and that the child could very well not even be Hank's. Furious, Schillinger demands the truth and forces Carrie to get a paternity test.
As his lieutenant, James Robson, is to stand trial for murder, Schillinger sends the only witness a disturbing letter in solitary that drives him to kill himself. Schillinger also warns Cloutier not to get involved with anything involving the Brotherhood again, but lets him go unharmed. Freed from the murder charge, Said savagely attacks and beats Robson, forcing Warden Glynn to consider locking Oz down. Schillinger then agrees for peace through Cloutier and for the time being there is a truce between the Muslims and Aryans. Beecher, meanwhile, is up for parole, and Schillinger vows to get it denied. Beecher gets provoked by the Aryans and Bikers until Said approaches Schillinger, warning him not to interfere with Beecher's parole. When Beecher's parole is denied, Schillinger attempts to rape him, but Said stabs and nearly kills both him and Robson.
Season 5
This season starts out with Carrie proving that the baby is Hank's. However, she is killed in a bus accident on the way to Oz. The baby survives and is sent to live with Carrie's parents in MontanaMontana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
.
A war is about to erupt between the Muslims and Aryans until Sister Pete has a series of Interaction sessions between Beecher, Said, and Schillinger. Schillinger does not go to war with the Muslims, but Robson taunts them continuously. Another war does erupt with the Aryans, however, when FBI Agent Pierce Taylor visits. Taylor tells Schillinger that an Italian mobster named Gaetano Cincetta has confessed to murdering Hank and gone into the witness protection program, because he is testifying against Chucky Pancamo
Chucky Pancamo
Charles "Chucky The Enforcer" Pancamo is a fictional character, played by Chuck Zito, on the HBO series Oz.-Character overview:Prisoner #97P468. Convicted June 4, 1997 - Second degree murder. Sentence: 35 years, eligible for parole in 15....
. The Aryan Brotherhood then attacks the Italian Mafia in the gym; Robson and Schillinger hospitalize Pancamo and the Italian Mob seeks revenge, led by Peter Schibetta
Peter Schibetta
Peter Schibetta is a fictional character on the HBO series Oz, portrayed by Eddie Malavarca.-Character overview:Prisoner #98S112. Convicted May 19, 1998 - Five counts of extortion: money laundering. Sentence: 35 years, eligible for parole in 20....
, who makes an unsuccessful attempt on Schillinger and Robson's life. Schibetta is instead gang raped while the Aryans berate him with ethnic slurs (he had previously been raped by Adebisi back in season 2). As this war is occurring, the Aryans do not realize that either outcome will make the black inmates stronger as Burr Redding
Burr Redding
Burr Redding is one of Oz's oldest inmates.-Character overview:Prisoner #01R289. Convicted January 11, 2001 - Murder in the first degree, seven counts of attempted murder...
, the Homeboys' leader, can now muscle the Italians out of the drug trade. If the Aryans lose, the Muslims also grow stronger, proving the effect of both outcomes. Meanwhile, two new inmates, Adam Guenzel and Franklin Winthrop, arrive. Winthrop is sent to Unit B where black inmate Clarence Seroy
Clarence Seroy
Clarence Seroy is a fictional character played by Emmanuel Yarborough on the HBO drama Oz.Prisoner #02S243. Convicted March 24, 2002 - 40 counts of arson in the first degree...
tries to rape him. The Aryans save Winthrop, only to turn him into their sex slave. The Aryans also want to rape Guenzel, but Italian gangster Frank Urbano
Frank Urbano
Francis Urbano aka "Frank the Fixer", played by Antoni Corone, is an Italian inmate on the HBO drama Oz.-Character overview:Prisoner #02U672. Convicted January 7, 2002 - Murder in the first degree. Sentence: Life imprisonment, eligible for parole in 25 years.A famed hitman, he was given a life...
stops them from doing so in the gym after Beecher asked the Mafia to protect Guenzel.
In the interaction sessions, Schillinger shares Said's homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
, but Said points out that Schillinger has committed sodomy many times, having raped Beecher and Cyril O'Reily, among other inmates. Schillinger denies this, and Beecher attacks him in a rage. He convinces Beecher that he is truly sorry for raping him, but is insincere; he plans to get Beecher's friend, Guenzel, transferred to Unit B so he can rape him. Schillinger offers Beecher a job delivering mail to protective custody (an opportunity to see Keller) if he allows Guenzel to be transferred, unprotected, to Unit B. Beecher accepts the offer, as he now wants nothing to do with his former friend, who was sent to prison for rape. Guenzel is transferred and immediately raped. Meanwhile, James Robson has a toothache and must get his gum tissue replaced. Schillinger suggests that Robson see Dr. Faraj, the Muslim prison dentist. Robson hurls racist insults at Faraj during the visit, and Faraj gets revenge by replacing Robson's tissue with that of a black man. As the whole prison population and the outside Aryan Nation leaders learn of this, Schillinger reluctantly kicks Robson out of the Brotherhood.
Beecher feels remorse
Remorse
Remorse is an emotional expression of personal regret felt by a person after he or she has committed an act which they deem to be shameful, hurtful, or violent. Remorse is closely allied to guilt and self-directed resentment...
about what has happened to Guenzel, so he attempts to get Sister Pete to talk to him. Guenzel is later killed after Schillinger convinces him to escape, however. Beecher testifies against Schillinger, who is moved to solitary confinement. Before he is sent to solitary, Wolfgang Cutler
Wolfgang Cutler
Wolfgang Cutler is a fictional character on the television show Oz, played by Brendan Kelly.-Character overview:Prisoner #02C773. Convicted February 20, 2003 - Murder in the first degree. Sentence: Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole....
, a man imprisoned for decapitating a homosexual, wants to join the Brotherhood. Cutler is told he must kill a high ranking black inmate for initiation. He targets Said, but is unsuccessful, as black inmate Omar White
Omar White
Omar White is a fictional character on the HBO drama Oz played by Michael Wright.-Character overview:Prisoner 01W711. Convicted January 4, 2001 - Murder in the first degree...
attacks him and nearly kills him.
Season 6
Schillinger is released from solitary on a 6-1 vote (it is assumed that Sister Pete is the one dissenting vote) under the condition that he does not rape any more inmates. He immediately rapes Winthrop, who offers him a deal. Winthrop will murder Beecher's father if he can join the Aryans. Schillinger accepts this deal, and Winthrop kills Beecher's father after paying the guards to lock him in a corridor. In the meantime, a family friend of Schillinger's, Mayor Wilson LoewenWilson Loewen
Wilson Loewen is a fictional character at HBO's drama Oz played by Tom Atkins.-Character Overview:Mayor Wilson Loewen was a politician who helped Governor James Devlin get elected. He was arrested after the police discovered he was involved with two murders of Black-Americans girls in 1963 during...
, is on trial for allegations that he assisted the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
in the racially motivated murder of two young black girls in 1963. This trial leads to a full-scale race riot in the city, which spreads into Oz, putting the entire prison in lockdown.
When the lockdown is over, Loewen is sent to Oz and is put in Unit J with Beecher. Beecher saves his life, and Schillinger is so grateful that he agrees not to interfere with Beecher's parole, which is ultimately successful. But Keller, whose death sentence
Death Sentence
Death Sentence is a short story by the American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov.-Plot summary:...
is overturned, intervenes, and gets Beecher sent right back to Oz. When Beecher tells Keller that he wants nothing to do with him after coming back to Oz, Schillinger decides to call a truce with Keller.
In a desperate attempt to win back Beecher's love, Keller devises a plan to get rid of Schillinger. During the prison production of Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
, in which both Schillinger and Beecher have been cast, he replaces a prop knife with a real one so Beecher will actually stab Schillinger. Before the play, Schillinger's sister visits, telling him that their father is dying. As he hates his father, he claims that he doesn't care. He does realize, however, that he has been set up at the last second after Beecher stabs him in the play's climactic
Climax (narrative)
The Climax is the point in the story where the main character's point of view changes, or the most exciting/action filled part of the story. It also known has the main turning point in the story...
scene (unbeknownst to Beecher himself), and sees that he is going to die, cursing Keller for betraying him. New warden Martin Querns
Martin Querns
Warden Martin Querns is a fictional character on the HBO drama Oz, played by Reg E. Cathey.-Character overview:He is an African American prison unit manager who has a vast experience of handling various prison units. He is hired by Warden Leo Glynn after he is asked to find a competent black unit...
and Sister Pete investigate and declare that Schillinger's death was an accident and Beecher is never charged with Schillinger's death.