Corrected entry: Detective Parnell ends up in prison at the end of the film and is shown being led through to the general prison population. This never, ever happens. Ex police officers (and prison guards) who are sentenced to prison terms are always put in protective segregation. There are no exceptions and the prisoner cannot request they be allowed into the general population - it just doesn't happen.
An Innocent Man (1989)
1 corrected entry
Directed by: Peter Yates
Starring: Tom Selleck, F. Murray Abraham, David Rasche, Laila Robins
Factual error: Rainwood exposes Parnell as a bent cop and as a result his conviction is quashed. That can't happen. Rainwood pleaded guilty in a plea bargain so regardless of future events he is guilty in the eyes of the law. He could appeal against the severity of his sentence but his conviction would be upheld, regardless of how unfair that is. (There have been real life incidences of this kind of thing happening).
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Suggested correction: He didn't plead guilty in a plea bargain - he was found guilty that's why he got 6 years, if he'd plead guilty he'd have done a year.
Suggested correction: Rainwood never pleaded guilty, he was found guilty which is why he was sentenced to six years.
Virgil Cane: Ain't life a motherfucker.
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Correction: This is a persistent urban myth, and it is wrong. If possible an ex-police officer or prison guard will be incarcerated in another state, well away from the scene of the crime. If that isn't possible they can request they be assigned to Administrative Segregation but they do not have to. They can request they be admitted to the general prison population, and most do. Drew Walter Peterson (look him up) probably wishes he hadn't as he got clobbered by a disgruntled inmate wielding a meal tray.
A better example is that of Michael Rudkin, a former corrections officer sentenced to 10 years for having sex with a female inmate. He tried to hire an inmate to arrange the murder of his ex-wife, the female inmate, his ex-wife's boyfriend and the federal investigator prosecuting him. He had ninety years added to his sentence. In August 2004 he tried to arrange the murders again, and this time the inmate he approached responded by beating him to death.