Jefferson Keane

Jefferson Keane is a fictional character in the HBO prison drama Oz played by American actor Leon Robinson.

Character overview

"Prisoner #97K186. Convicted May 14, 1997 - Two counts of first degree murder. Sentence: Life imprisonment without the possibly of parole. Later convicted of another count of first degree murder and sentenced to death."

Keane was sentenced to life in prison without parole for murdering a couple on their wedding day because they "ripped off his package", and is the first leader of the homeboys gang in the series. In the end, he is manipulated by the hacks and convicted for the murder of Latino inmate Julio Martinez. When Governor James Devlin reinstates capital punishment Keane is sent to death row and later executed.

eason 1

Jefferson runs the Homeboys, the Black inmates involved in drug dealing. He first appears sponsoring new inmate Paul Markstrom who wants into the Homeboys and appears to be worthy of membership. Keane does not know at the time that Markstrom is in actuality an undercover police officer. Keane then appears with Markstrom and Simon Adebisi confronting Muslim inmate Kareem Said. Because the Muslims are anti-drug, Keane views Said as a threat taking several potential African American soldiers and customers away from the Homeboys. Said shows that he is not scared however and the Homeboys and Muslims leave each other alone.

Keane is then approached by inmate Ryan O'Reily asked to murder an Italian inmate Dino Ortolani. He initially refuses as the current rules in keeping the inmates not at war involves killing no wiseguys. This changes however when Billie, his homosexual brother is savagely beaten by Ortolani after making a pass at him in the shower. Angered, Keane conspires with O'Reily to get revenge on him. An opportunity presents itself, and Ortolani is put in the hole and is sedated after killing a fellow inmate in the infirmary. O'Reily asks for a favor of one of the COs Mike Healy and Homeboy Johnny Post is let into the hole. Post then spills some flammable fluid over Ortolani and sets him on fire while he is unable to defend himself or even notice it.

Later on, when O'Reily finds out that the Italians are not about to let this murder go and intend to take revenge on whoever did it, he suggests Keane to rat Post out to them to take the heat off the two of them. Keane refuses, but O'Reily rats him out to the Italians' leader, Nino Schibetta as he is playing both sides being in the good graces of both the Black and Italian gangsters. The Italians take their revenge on Post by castrating and killing him. They later put the severed penis in Keane's cell to let him know they are aware of the fact Post was not acting on his own.

Keane later converts to Islam and softens his image. This puts him at odds with his brother Billie, who is homosexual. To get in the good graces of Schibetta, O'Reily sets it up with CO's to have Jefferson fight two Latinos in the gym. The fight is caught on video tape and Keane ends up killing one of the latinos and is sentenced to death row under the reinstated death penalty. Fellow inmate Tobias Beecher discovers that Keane was set up and tries to file an appeal on his behalf but Keane wishes to stay on death row because he worries that if he is taken off of death row, he may revert back to his old ways. Keane's sister needs a kidney transplant and Governor Devlin grants a stay of execution for him to donate his kidney but only under intense political pressure. Keane's execution went on as scheduled as he hoped to bring peace between the Homeboys and Wiseguys through his death.

eason 6

In season six Jefferson Keane narrates the first episode, "Dead Man Talking", along with Augustus Hill. The theme of that episode is death.

External links

* [http://www.hbo.com/oz/groups/homeboys.shtml Official biography at Oz website]