Question: Is it really possible that the guards left Andy's cell completely unchecked after his deal with Norton? I mean, no all round inspections, structural maintenance or even repainting - anything that would have revealed his escape plan at once - for 20 straight years?
Dangar
9th May 2021
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Answer: Well they probably did do inspections, but of the common things like the mattress and toilet. They don't check behind the poster, I think most try their best to ignore it. None of the guards expected he was making a hole behind it, since that's not possible, in their eyes. I hardly doubt they paint (or plaster) a cell that's occupied by an inmate. And the construction work is so expensive and time-consuming, they don't do structural maintenance unless it's really necessary (meaning when something falls off).
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Answer: The prison is known to be corrupt and thus maintenance would be at a bare minimum. Prison guards rarely actually go into the cells unless there is concrete information of a smuggled item etc. Andy was well liked by most of the inmates so no-one would really snitch on him. He was also working for Norton so his cell had a lot of things a prison cell should not have - books, the poster, the rock collection, a table etc. Red narrates that Andy worked for so long to escape, working in small increments, chipping away bit by bit and dumping the dirt outside. Guards, managers etc would change over 20 years and nothing happened that would warrant a renovation.