For all its stated intentions of reform, the prison system tends to break down its inhabitants more often than it builds them up. Even those who get out of the big house can feel its effects for years after their release: antisocial habits, unwarranted aggression, and breakdowns in communication—or, in the words of one character from Penitentiary II, "emotional constipation." Answering his sister's charges that he doesn't talk enough, wrongfully convicted ex-con Too Sweet (Leon Isaac Kennedy) responds with a laundry list of reasons for his silence: "Talk about what? Talk about some damn war that was cruel enough to spare me? Talk about me doing time for a killing I never even knew took place? Talk about some crazy fool that wants me to dance around in the ring and pound the hell out of other people for some money and some fame and some glory?" Adding, "I don't want to talk about anything that isn't beautiful," he excuses himself in time to check out a beachfront roller-skating showcase. Soon, however, Kennedy finds himself with no choice but to "pound the hell out of other people," thanks to unusual parole conditions that force him to work for a sleazy boxing promoter. A stroke of luck gives him Mr. T (playing a character called "Mr. T") as a trainer, an ally he needs all the more desperately after his sexually predatory prison adversary Half Dead (future Ghostbuster and Oz cast member Ernie Hudson) rapes and kills his girlfriend (Eugenia Wright) as Kennedy waits patiently to sleep with her for the first time since his conviction. ("I haven't been with a man," Wright tells Kennedy shortly before her death, an admission he pointedly does not return.) Soon, Kennedy vows to obtain revenge the only way he knows how: by boxing someone other than his enemy. In his first bout, conducted within the walls of a penitentiary, Kennedy goes down hard, but only after proving his grit and determination. "Too Sweet has won the heart of this audience," one excitable announcer comments. "Indeed, I'm sure, the heart of America." Later, a rematch takes a potentially deadly turn as Hudson, sporting a not-too-scary rainbow-colored Afro wig, reveals that his henchmen are holding the family of Kennedy's sister hostage, and will kill them if Kennedy wins the match. Making it through one punishing round after another, Kennedy finally shows his opponent the sort of tricks only Mr. T can teach, once his loved ones escape from their captors. Meanwhile, T himself takes down Hudson, while an oversexed dwarf and a vocal gang of prison transvestites cheer Kennedy's accomplishments.
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