An ex-con, on parole and trying to straighten his life out, decides to resume his boxing career when one of his prison enemies escapes and kills his girlfriend.
Penitentiary is a 1979 American blaxploitation drama film written, produced, and directed by Jamaa Fanaka, and starring Leon Isaac Kennedy as Martel "Too Sweet" Gordone, a man who deals with the wrongful imprisonment of a black youth. The film was released on November 21, 1979. The first sequel, Penitentiary II, was released in 1982. It was a direct sequel that followed the exploits of "Too Sweet" Gordone shortly after his release from prison. It was notable for the early casting of Mr. T as Gordone's trainer, Glynn Turman as his brother-in-law, and Ernie Hudson recast in the villainous role of "Half Dead." The second sequel, Penitentiary III, was released in 1987. The plot centers on "Too Sweet" Gordone's time in prison, where he is sent after beating another boxer to death in a performance enhancing drug-fueled fugue state.
