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In 1947, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a banker in Maine, is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, a golf pro. Since the state of Maine has no death penalty, he is given two consecutive life sentences and sent to the notoriously harsh Shawshank Prison. Andy keeps claiming his innocence, but his cold and calculating demeanor leads everyone to believe he did it. Meanwhile, Ellis Boyd Redding (Morgan Freeman), known as Red is being interviewed for parole after having spent 20 years at Shawshank for murder. Despite his best efforts and behavior, Red's parole is rejected which doesn't phase him all that much. Red is then introduced as the local smuggler who can get inmates anything they want within reason. An alarm goes off alerting all prisoners of new arrivals. Red and his friends bet on whichever new fish will have a nervous break down during his first night in prison. Red places a huge bet on Andy. During the first night, an overweight newly arrived inmate, nicknamed ''fat ass', breaks down and cries hysterically allowing Heywood (William Sadler) to win the bet. However, the celebration is short lived when the chief guard, Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown), savagely beats up the fat man for not keeping quiet when he is asked to. Meanwhile, Andy remains steadfast and composed. The next morning, the inmates learn that ''fat ass'' died in the infirmary because the prison doctor had been out for the night. Andy inquires about the man's name only to get put down by Heywood. About a month later, Andy approaches Red having heard of his talents for finding things. He asks Red to find him a rock hammer, an instrument he claims is necessary for his hobby of rock collecting and sculpting. Red asks a few questions about his intentions which Andy laughs off. Red agrees to place the order and also warns Andy about ''the sisters'', a group of prisoners who sexually assaults other prisoners, most importantly their leader, Boggs (Mark Rolston) who has a crush on Andy. Though other prisoners consider Andy "a really cold fish," Red sees something in Andy, and likes him from the start. Red thinks Andy intends to use the hammer to engineer an escape in the future but when he finally sees the tool's actual size, he understands why Andy laughed and laughs too, putting aside the thought that Andy could ever use it to dig his way out of prison. During the first two years of his incarceration, Andy spends most of his time working in the prison laundry or fighting off Boggs and the Sisters. Though he persistently resists and fights them every time, Andy is beaten and raped on a regular basis but keeps quiet about it.