L'Istruttoria E' Chiusa: Dimentichi (aka The Case Is Closed: Forget It) (1977)

A successful architect and family man (Franco Nero) is sent to prison for a crime he did not commit. While pending an appeal, he lives through the horrors of a corrupt prison system. Based on the novel TANTE SBARRE by Leros Pittoni and directed by Damiano Damiani (A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL). This Italian crime drama is a rough watch. I've seen movies on corrupt prison systems before but never one as dastardly as this. Franco Nero is very good as the naive innocent but a little too naive as it quickly becomes apparent to us that protesting and shooting off your mouth is only going get him into deep trouble (like beatings and solitary confinement) but he continues to do it. Rather than admire him for protesting inhuman and unfair prison conditions, all I could think was "Shut your mouth, stupid!". Eventually he is broken down by the system. So much so that when he is finally freed, instead of revealing the horrors he's seen and lived through, he keeps it to himself. With Riccardo Cucciolla, Georges Wilson, John Steiner, Claudio Nicastro and Ferruccio De Ceresa.