congratulations on the curtis fox case, scagnetti. you put an end to a nightmare. the ladies of this city can get to sleep again, and they have you to thank.
dewight mcclusky of the california prison board. take a seat please.
this is damn good reading. i'm surprised hollywood hasn't found you. this would make a better movie than that 'serpico' shit.
i think you'll find that good reading as well. mickey and mallory's file. you familiar with them?
you been followin' the news coverage?
susanville, soledade.
five inmates, eight guards and one psychiatrist all in one year's time.  very good. you do keep up with the headlines.
look, our situation in a nutshell is, no prison wants 'em, no prison will take 'em. i'm even talkin' hellholes, where the warden's as hard as a bar of iron. no one wants those fuckin' assholes behind their walls, dealin' with 'em day in, day out.
so can we. so the solution to our little problem is we had them deemed crazy. and we're shippin' 'em to nystrom asylum for the criminally insane.
you've heard of it?
the public loves you jack. you don't mind if i call you jack, do you?
you're a celebrated cop. twenty-six years on the force, a best-seller out on paperback.
a modern day pat garret. a hell bent lawman with a deadly axe to grind with maniacs.
you're a breathing icon of justice and that's why you were chosen to deliver mr. and mrs. knox. we, the prison board we, knows that once you get them on the road if anything should happen, an escape attempt, an accident, fire, anything. jack 'supercop' scagnetti would be there to look out for his public's best interests.
you write the script jack, call it, 'showdown in mojave: the extermination of mickey and mallory', whatever.  have we found our man?
pete, open it up! i'm comin' through with a visitor!
well, jack, i'll tell ya, in all my years with the penal institution, and i'll tell ya that's no small number, mickey and mallory knox are without a doubt the most twisted, depraved group of fucks it's ever been my displeasure to lay my eyes on. i mean, those two rat shits are a walkin' reminder of just how fucked up our system really is.
mickey's better half herself. mallory knox. this little lady drowned her father in a fish tank.
while the two together burned her mother alive in her bed.
because they wouldn't give them their blessing for marriage.
ain't love grand. that's a good one.
here she is. you know her, you love her, you can't live without her. mallory knox.
hey, knox! somebody out here wants to meet you.
don't worry about it. she does that all the time.
follow me.
hey, phil, how the hell are ya?
the only reason i'm here now is to set him straight, and i'm on the next flight out. jack, this is the superintendent of the jail. phil wurlitzer. he's the man who's got the power of the pen here.
from now on, you'll be dealin' with phil. he can answer all the questions you got about the arrangements. i'm gonna be bidding you good luck and adieu in about twenty minutes. my flight back to sacramento leaves lax in a hour.
the prison board made the decision. a board of which i belong. we're the who. the why is simple. mickey and mallory are mentally ill and need to be under a doctor's care, where hopefully they'll receive the help they need.
well, since that time, they've killed one person during their trail. and since their incarceration, they've killed one psychologist along with several guards and inmates.
what's changed, mr. gayle, is our minds. we felt they were competent a year ago. a year has passed, sir, a year where they were under close observation, day in and day out, and their behaviour has led us to believe we were wrong.
the prison board and the doctors who examined them.
using the same doctors is not common practice.
now that you bring it up, yes. they were different men. i hadn't really thought that much about it. since many psychiatric opinions are, by a rule, sought out for this kind of situation. what do you think normally happens? the knoxs are assigned a family psychologist that takes care of them throughout the rest of their lives? the state doesn't work like that.