On a chain gang, an inmate harasses Luke Dodge (Stephen Baldwin), who fights back. When Charles Piper (Laurence Fishburne) intervenes, the guards chain him and Dodge together, and then Dodge and Piper begin fighting. The guards discuss a plan in hushed tones and change their magazines, but before they do anything, the inmate who attacked Dodge snatches a gun and starts a shootout. During the confusion, he, Dodge and Piper escape. The cop who arrested Dodge, Matthew Gibson (Will Patton) picks up a magazine at the crime scene. A fellow cop informs him that the Attorney General asked him to place Dodge on that chain gang against protocol. Suspicious, he runs off into the woods and finds the third convict, who is shot and killed by Marshal Schiller. Dodge and Piper argue about their plan; Dodge reveals he needs to escape to collect $5 million he stole. Piper demands half in exchange for his help.