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Other Inmates
Bellinger
Shirley Bellinger
"All I wanted was for someone to pay attention and now that they finally are, I see that my life then, or now, isn't worth shit."
Played By: Kathryn Erbe
Prisoner 97B642. Convicted December 6, 1997 - Murder in the first degree. Sentence: Death. Sentence commuted in 1999, then commutation of sentence revoked in 2000.
The first and only woman to be incarcerated at Oswald. She was sentenced to die for murdering her daughter; she drove her car into a lake with her daughter in the back seat, then swam out as the car sank, leaving her daughter to drown. She swears it was an accident, but that it nevertheless "had to happen".
While she keeps mostly to herself and has a shy, charming demeanor, she shows some signs of psychological instability; shortly after her arrival, she exposes herself to fellow prisoner Timmy Kirk and prostitutes herself to inmates and guards alike in return for preferential treatment. She believes she is doing God's will, and it is suggested that she is a devout Christian.
- Affably Evil: Despite her utter insanity and the fact that she murdered her only child, Shirley is remarkably friendly and charming.
- Alas, Poor Villain: When she sees the noose when she is about to be executed, she starts to realise that the end is actually near and she starts to weep and beg for her life.
- Cute and Psycho: With her folksy, humble manner and soft-spoken demeanour it's easy to forget that Shirley murdered her daughter.
- A Death in the Limelight: Her last two episodes shed a lot more light on her backstory and character.
- Face Death with Dignity: Subverted. She calmly walks out of her cell to her execution, but when she sees the noose, she (quite understandably) panics, tries to flee, breaks down weeping, and begs God for mercy and forgiveness. Far from being used to portray her as a coward, it's a deeply human and tragic moment.
- Domestic Abuse: It's shown that she received it from her husband, mentioned that she was raped by her father-in-law, and implied that she also got beaten by her father.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Shirley tends to soften her language, which makes her foul mouthed moments even funnier.
- Head-Turning Beauty: She is very attractive indeed... and she knows it.
- Manipulative Bitch: Shirley uses her sexuality and intelligence to manipulate many of the men around her, including Schillinger. Averted when it fails to save her from being executed.
- Not So Stoic: When she sees the hanging rope for her execution she, quite understandably, starts to panic.
- Offing the Offspring: She's on death row for murdering her own daughter, only insisting it had to be done without explaining why.
- Platonic Life-Partners: With Richie Hanlon and Nat Ginzburg, both of whom are gay.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: She's openly racist and turned down Adebisi for being black. He doesn't take it well. She does, however, seem to have a thing for Moses Deyell. She also doesn't seem to be homophobic, getting on very well with Richie Hanlon.
- Precision F-Strike: She uses the word "shit" in her television interview, then immediately freaks out that it means the clip can't be used on TV.
- Rape as Backstory: Shirley claims that she was raped by her father-in-law, and the daughter she killed was the product of the rape. It's unclear if she's telling the truth or just trying to get a rise out of her husband.
- Ripped from the Headlines : The character's crimes (and racist attitudes) are based on those of Susan Smith, who drove her car into a lake and drowned her children.
- Southern Belle : Part of her persona as The Vamp , mentioned below.
- Sophisticated as Hell: She always speak in a polite, formal tone but has no problem being as foul mouthed as other prisoners.
- Stepford Smiler: She talks brightly about her own upcoming death, her murder of her daughter and her troubled past.
- The Smurfette Principle: Shirley is the only female inmate seen in the entire series. Justified as the show takes place in a men's prison and the circumstances that have brought her to Oz are unique.
- Tears of Fear: When she's being executed.
- The Vamp: She has no problems with using sex as a weapon to get what she wants.
- Villainous Breakdown: Shirley has been consistently calm, soft-spoken and accepting of her sentence...until she actually sees the rope. She proceeds to freak the hell out (as you would) and has to be dragged to the noose.
- Villainous Friendship: She got on pretty well with Vernon Schillinger, the leader of the Aryans. Didn't stop her from suggesting to Richie Hanlon a method to get Schillinger on death row as well.
Busmalis
Agamemnon Busmalis
Played By: Tom Mardirosian
Prisoner 98B242. Convicted March 10, 1998 - Grand theft larceny, breaking and entering. Sentence: 10 years, up for parole in four.
A bank burglar who tries numerous times to escape OZ and strikes up a friendship with Rebadow.
- Berserk Button: Had his only violent outburst in the series after he is denied the right to have a child with his wife.
- Catchphrase: "This is the best Miss Sally ever."
- Cloudcuckoolander
- Manchild: Likely the oldest fan of Miss Sally's Schoolyard in the world. Unlike the other inmates, his interest in the show extends far beyond the well-endowed hostess.
- Nice Guy: Nicer even than Rebadow.
- Odd Couple: With Rebadow.
- Tunnel King: Utilized for robbing banks; his reason for being in Oz (and modus operandi for several escape attempts).
Kosygin
Yuri Kosygin
Played By: Olek Krupa
A quiet and thoughtful Russian inmate, who previously worked as a hitman.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: He's extremely deadly, despite not uttering a word until his very last appearance.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He gets sent to solitary and then just disappears. A deleted scene reveals that he was killed by a woman posing as a State Department employee.
- Drunk on the Dark Side: Seems to be the quintessential cold-hearted assassin until revealing his Freudian Excuse to a fellow Mafiyoso, his stoic façade finally melting into murderous glee (the last thing we see on his face).
- The Dreaded: Stanislofsky is terrified of him. As soon as he's out of earshot, Stanislofsky warns everybody who will listen about how dangerous he is.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He wears glasses and is one of the coldest and most emotionless inmates on the show.
- Impossibly Cool Weapon: Making a shank out of the temple pieces of your glasses definitely qualifies.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: He racks up the largest kill count of anyone in Oz, yet doesn't get killed or otherwise harmed for any of the crimes done inside or out of prison and is transferred away unscathed...only for him to end up with his just desserts in the form of an offscreen stealth killing like he was so fond of committing himself.
- The Mafiya: He's affiliated with the Organizatsiya, but it's not revealed if he's a full member or just hired muscle.
- Nerves of Steel: Even when being threatened, he shows absolutely no fear.
- Professional Killer: He's the Russian Mob's most famous and successful hitman.
- Put on a Bus: Thrown out of Em City and out of sight, forever.
- Start of Darkness: Kosygin was once an honest immigrant until he murdered his abusive boss, which he quickly spun into a career as a hitman.
- Stoic Spectacles: His glasses send off a very cold and distant vibe.
- The Stoic: Rarely shows any emotion at all and it creeps everyone out.Busmalis: "I tried to talk to him the other day, he just sat there and said nothing... He creeps me out."Rebadow: "Yeah, me too."
Groves
Donald Groves
"I only ate my mom. I was saving my dad for Thanksgiving."
Played By: Sean Whitesell
Prisoner 97G414. Convicted July 3, 1997 - Two counts of Murder in the first degree. Sentence: Life imprisonment without parole. Convicted later August 21, 1997 - One count of Murder in the first degree in connection with death of corrections officer Lawrence Smith. Sentence: Death.
A quiet young inmate sent to OZ for killing and eating his parents. He possesses all the qualities that would normally make him a target of stronger inmates, but the disturbing nature of his crime combined with a creepy, solitary demeanor means he's left alone by others.
- Alas, Poor Villain: He is killed right after he begins to experience guilt for the first time in his life.
- Affably Evil: Calm, polite, friendly, generally keeps to himself and gets along well with others and utterly homicidal.
- Apologetic Attacker: He sincerely apologizes to Leo for trying to kill him, claiming it wasn't personal and just how things had to go down. Leo is understandably not sure how to respond.
- The Atoner: After being confronted by the mother of the guard he murdered, Groves breaks down in tears and feels genuine remorse.
- Ax-Crazy: What exactly were you expecting from a guy who killed his parents and ate his mother? This is somewhat downplayed throughout most of the first season, until inspired vaguely by Kareem Said's criticism of the warden and mostly by whatever's going on in his head, he tries to kill the warden, instead killing a guard
- Beware the Quiet Ones: He's quiet, keeps to himself, and dangerously insane.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Exactly what goes on in Groves' head is a complete mystery.
- Cute and Psycho: He's boyishly handsome and an unstable killer.
- Deadpan Snarker: He's prone to snark on the rare occasion he starts talking.
- The Dreaded: Downplayed, he's not actively feared by the other inmates much like in case of the more brutish inmates like Adebisi, but due to the disturbing nature of his crime, lack of remorse and for being a creepy loner, everyone avoids confrontation with him.
- Face Death with Dignity: He goes to his execution quietly and without resistance.
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: He's quite boyishly handsome for a cannibalistic murderer.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Groves killed his parents and ate his mother. He was saving his father for Thanksgiving.
- Nightmare Fetishist: He has a habit of sneaking out to look at the corpses of anyone subject to a Cruel and Unusual Death.
- Odd Friendship: He's genuinely fond of Rebadow and gets along well enough with Alvarez to supply him free drugs. He also seems to get along well with Scott Ross and is perhaps the only person in the series Ross is ever genuinely cordial to.
- Psychopathic Manchild: The first thing he did after knocking his parents out? Change the T.V. to cartoons.
- Pet the Dog: He tells Beecher how he can meet Keane. He does this without gaining anything and it comes off as a genuine attempt at friendly advice to another inmate.
- Riddle for the Ages: He asks Ray Mukada to take down his last words and pass them on to his victim's mother but the recording equipment cuts out and we never learn what he wanted to say.
- Self-Made Orphan: He murdered his own parents and ate his mother, being caught before he could do the same to his father.
- The Stoic: He wears the same facial expression constantly, and is otherwise unflappable.
- Not So Stoic: His most outrageous display of emotion is when the mother of his victim tells him she forgives him, prompting Donald to break down in tears.
- The Quiet One: Groves rarely talks and tends to stand off in the corner by himself for the most part.
- Villainous Breakdown
- Villainous Friendship: Due to his amiable personality without being a total Chew Toy for the much stronger inmates, he bonds with quite a few inmates. Among his friends in Em City are Rebadow, Alvarez and oddly enough, Ross.
Vahue
Jackson Vahue
Played By: Rick Fox
A celebrity pro basketball player incarcerated for assault.
- Broken Pedestal: Big time. Poor Augustus Hill is swiftly disabused of his hero worship.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He initially comes off like a celebrity who's impatient and harried by constant attention. Underneath that, though, he actually is a selfish, petty asshole.
- Kick the Dog: He's gratuitously horrible to Eugene Dobbins, a harmless and nonviolent inmate who just wants to play the cello.
- Laser-Guided Karma: He's a complete douchebag to Augustus Hill in the first season. A few seasons later, when Vahue comes up for parole, Augustus secretly contacts his victim. She testifies at the hearing, and Vahue's parole is denied... meaning he'll be in jail long enough that he has no hope of ever having a pro career again.
- Pet the Dog: During the riot, he tries to help Eugene Dobbins, albeit after Hill desperately pleads with him, and gets beaten by the COs for his trouble.
- Put on a Bus: To Gen Pop. It occasionally comes back.
- Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: Vahue once scored 58 points against the Chicago Bulls, a fact that is brought up reverently by nearly every character who interacts with him.
- Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: He tries to defend himself to Hill by pointing out that he helped Dobbins during the riot, while of course failing to acknowledge that he'd been a bullying Jerkass to the man up until that point (and on top of that, had to be talked into helping).
- Took a Level in Kindness: A massive one shown in the Series Finale. Vahue is out on parole and his career is back on track. Rather than return to his old lifestyle, he starts doing charitable work with the prisoners at Oz.
Basil
Desmond Mobay/John Basil
Played By: Lance Reddick
An African American police detective, he is an undercover narcotics officer working under the false identity of Desmond Mobay and trying to bust the drug trade in Oz. "Mobay" is a Jamaican who wishes to work for the gangsters within Oz.
- The Atoner: He finally realizes what he's become and confesses to killing Bruno Goergen.
- Becoming the Mask: He gradually becomes a heroin addict and Adebisi's number 1 dealer, completely indistinguishable from any other Homeboy.
- Butt-Monkey: The poor guy is in way over his head in Em City. He refuses to acknowledge this simple fact until things have already gone horribly, horribly wrong.
- Descent into Addiction: He's forced to use as part of his initiation, which kicks off a serious habit.
- Dirty Cop: Not at first, but he gradually turns into a criminal for real while exploiting his badge to get away with it.
- Fatal Family Visit: It takes him a long time to overcome his shame and be able to face his wife and son. Naturally, it's only as he finally agrees to see them that Clayton Hughes randomly shanks him.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: He starts off as a genuinely good guy, then he becomes the mask, and finally he has a Heel Realization and turns himself in, at which point he becomes The Atoner.
- Heel Realization: He realizes he's become the very thing he was trying to stop after beating Hill, and turns himself in out of guilt.
- Kick the Dog: He brutally beats Hill, his only friend, for calling him out on becoming corrupt. Basil's guilt over this drives him to turn himself in.
- The Mole: Working undercover with the Homeboys just like Markstrom before him. Unlike Markstrom, however, Basil never really gains their trust.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Basil's ordered to kill someone in order to progress in the ranks of Adebisi's group. He's also being blackmailed by a fellow inmate who knows he's a cop and is a racist bastard to boot. No points for guessing how he deals with both problems at once...
- My God, What Have I Done?: He ultimately turns himself in after beating Hill to a pulp for calling him out on having become the mask.
- Nice Guy: He starts off as one, being rather noble and affable before he starts Becoming the Mask. After his Heel Realization, he reverts back to being this, striking up a friendship with Alvin Yood.
- Protagonist Journey to Villain: His story arc follows him as he goes from a noble rookie cop to a hardened criminal and a murderer. He eventually has a Heel Realization and stops before it gets any further.
- Redemption Equals Death: He eventually confesses to his various crimes, and then is killed while in custody.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: He stops his investigation cold to confess to the murder of another inmate.
Yood
Alvin Yood
Played By: Tom Ligon
Prisoner 01Y218. Convicted January 20, 2001 for aggravated assault of a minor. Sentence of 12 years, up for parole in seven.
A middle-aged former sheriff sent to OZ for assaulting a suspect.
- Big Eater: He's almost always seen eating, and never eating a little bit. He knocks Howell down a flight of stairs for the promise of more and better food.
- Cool Old Guy: He's a very friendly, likable older man. One wonders if he really needs to be in the cop Cell Block at all.
- Deadpan Snarker: He speaks almost entirely in witty one-liners.
- Kick The Son Of A Bitch: He puts a guard in hospital just for the promise of some nice junk food. That'd be hard to overlook and would likely undermine his likability were said guard not Claire Howell.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: How he puts Claire Howell out of commission.
- Nice Guy: So much that even inmates like O'Reilly who otherwise detest cops genuinely like and get along well with him. He also becomes good friends with John Basil and even tries to get along with Clayton, albeit to no avail.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Unleashes one on some punk he was interrogating, which is why he was sent to OZ.
- The Sheriff: He was this before he was sent to Oz.
L'Italien
Richard L'Italien
"I'm here because I love women. I love every woman I see."
Played By: Eric Roberts
A remorseless Death Row inmate who reveals himself to be a Serial Killer.
- Ax-Crazy: Double Subverted; He is a remorseless murderer, but he seems perfectly sane and rational. And then we find out he's responsible for the death of just over 3 dozen women.
- Beard of Evil: A serial killer with a bushy beard.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Averted. Upon being told that he is going to be executed for killing one women, he reveals the name of another women he killed. Not stopping there, he recites the names of another 37 women he's murdered, that no one ever knew about.
- Character Tics: He frequently plays or fiddles with his yo-yo.
- Companion Cube: A purple yo-yo.
- Disproportionate Retribution: He raped and murdered his therapist and her daughter for saying he couldn't distinguish between love and sex.
- Expy: Appears to be one to Ted Bundy, a charming, charismatic, intelligent man who just so happens to be a serial killer. Like Bundy, L'Italien exclusively targets women, and his body count is similar.
- Face Death with Despair: For all his smugness, he's absolutely terrified as he's being executed.
- Faux Affably Evil: He's easy-going and charming, but he's a misogynistic, remorseless monster who is disgustingly callous about his crimes.
- He-Man Woman Hater: He exclusively kills women, but claims to love them... it's just that he believes that when you love someone, they possess you. He will not be possessed.
- Love Makes You Evil: He claims he genuinely loved all of the women he killed.Mukada: Then why did you kill them?
L'Italien Because love possesses you. I will not be possessed. - Not the First Victim: He's on death row for killing a woman, and only shortly before his execution date does he reveal that there were actually many more victims.
- Serial Killer: He has killed 39 women, and has been doing so since he was a teenager.
- The Sociopath: He has no capacity for kindness or remorse and sees all of his victims as objects instead of people.
- Straw Misogynist: He claims to love women, but clearly views them as little more than sex objects that he killed for almost no reason at all.
- Teens Are Monsters: He mentions that he raped and murdered his therapist and her daughter while he was still a teenager.
- Villainous Breakdown: When he's executed, he sheds his flippant attitude and shows fear.
Stanislofsky
Nikolai Stanislofsky
"I was seven years in Soviet gulag. This place is cake."
Played By: Philip Casnoff
A clever and cunning Russian Jew.
- Affably Evil: While he frequently slips into being Faux Affably Evil whenever he's manipulating people, he's genuinely polite and friendly even with people who pose no threat or use to him.
- Arch-Enemy: To O'Reily. A lot of Stanislofsky's plans put him at direct odds with him, and he very frequently comes up with schemes to kill or otherwise see O'Reily taken out of commission for his own ends.
- Best Served Cold: Poor Richie Hanlon never sees Stanislofsky's retaliation coming.
- The Chessmaster: He's very cunning and good at manipulating people. He's even one of the very few to outfox O'Reily, probably the biggest Chessmaster in the prison.
- Deadpan Snarker: Deadpan everything, really. But snark is his forte.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Has a girlfriend he seems to care about, and who cares very much about him in return. There's also Alexander Vogel, a friend of his. He actually "avenges" his death by killing Richie Hanlon, not being aware that the latter is innocent and that the real perpetrators are Schillinger and Mark Mack.Stanislofsky: (as Richie Hanlon is bleeding out) I lied, Alexander Vogel was my friend.
- Face Death with Dignity: Nikolai is smart enough to know that being on Ryan O'Reilly's bad side is a death sentence. Yet, he is remarkably calm about it, not doing much more than having a rabbi prepare his way and saying goodbye to his girlfriend.
- Faux Affably Evil: Like O'Reily he knows when to turn up the charm to get his way, best seen with Hoyt and Pancamo.
- Foil: To O'Reily. Both are lone wolves and part of a minority in prison (Nikolai is Russian, O'Reily is Irish), both of them are a combination of The Chessmaster and Manipulative Bastard, both of them are ruthless, both of them quickly adapt to life in Oz and are rather successful in their attempt at survival.
- Foreshadowing: He mentions that all he wants is a hot bath. He finally gets one... and it's used to kill him.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: Has a tendency to do this, either to punctuate his sentences or to sound smart and/or mysterious/menacing. Needless to say, it can be quite
funny to watch. This is Truth in Television: Immigrants often pepper their second language with words from their original language, especially idioms that are difficult to translate quickly. - The Gulag: He was imprisoned in one prior to immigrating to the U.S.
- Honey Trap: Pulls one on gay inmate Richie Hanlon in the showers. Stanislofsky goes in for a kiss, and instead cuts Hanlon's jugular with a razor blade he'd hidden in his mouth. He's also the victim of one from Howell, who electrocutes him in the bathtub after giving him a handjob.
- Jewish and Nerdy: A bit of a tech genius as well as a clever criminal.
- Kosher Nostra: In a sense. He's a Russian Jew loosely associated with the Russian mob.
- The Mafiya: The nature of his relationship with the Organizatsiya is never made clear. However, it is implied that he's not on the best terms with them, as he immediately assumes that Kosygin has been sent to kill him when he arrives in Oz.
- Manipulative Bastard: He's not bad at it, but O'Reily knows better, recognizing a fellow manipulator when he sees one.O'Reily: You know we got a little saying in this country, maybe you've heard it before: 'You can't shit a shitter'.
- Noble Demon: Played with. He's apparently a "Thief in Law"
, an organization of thieves with a code of honor to only live from stealing and help thieves in need, but as The Other Wiki points out, not all (if any) member actually follow through with the code and Nikolai, a consummate liar, doesn't seem like the kind to help for the sake of it. - Properly Paranoid: His fear of Kosygin and later O'Reily are both quite well-founded, as both wind up trying to kill him.
- Villains Put Shopping: He spends most of his free time hanging out with Beecher, Busmalis, Rebadow and Hill engaging in their various Seinfeldian Conversations.
- Vodka Drunkenski: While not ever actually seen drunk, he keeps a stash of vodka in his cell.
Neema
Jahfree Neema
Played By: Peter Francis James
- Felony Misdemeanor: See the above entry. Possibly the most ludicrous example in the entire show.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's rude and confrontational with just about everybody, but only because he resents the fact that he's forced to share living space with drug dealers and killers. In reality, he's a pretty decent guy. When Cyril O'Reily is about to be executed, Neema's the one that organizes the prisoners to demonstrate their support for the O'Reilys.
- Malcolm Xerox: Subverted, he acts like this at first, but it's mostly a facade.
- "Reason You Suck" Speech: When Poet stupidly thinks that a former Black Panther would be the perfect candidate to take over the Homeboy's failing drug trade, Neema's response is to give him one of these. He delivers another one to Burr Redding when he tries to get friendly.
- Scary Black Man: His demeanor is pretty intimating, mostly because of his perpetual bad mood.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Kareem Said. Not much more than a surface similarity, since he's not around long enough to get much characterization.
- Where da White Women At?: Back in his day, he carried on a relationship with Ryan O'Reilly's mother.
Tarrant
Guillaume Tarrant
Played By: Lothaire Bluteau
Prisoner number 00T416. Convicted January 2, 2000 - Destruction of private property, concealment of a deadly weapon. Sentence: 10 years, up for parole in 3.
A French inmate arrested for destroying a statue at an art museum, he is woefully unprepared for prison life.
- All of the Other Reindeer: He is immediately singled out for bullying, in particular over his shoes (and later the slippers he's humiliatingly stuck with after he's forced to give up said shoes).
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: Despite his sad storyline, Tarrant gets a lot of approval for taking out two of the most detestable characters on the show, Wangler and Pierce.
- Break the Cutie: Despite being a man in his 40s, this is basically his character arc.
- Carry a Big Stick: He was charged with concealing a "deadly weapon" (the hammer used for smashing the statue), which presumably bumped up his sentence.
- Cornered Rattlesnake: He's cornered by Wangler, Poet and Pierce numerous times. The final time, having been secretly slipped a gun, he opens fire.
- Despair Event Horizon: What's especially tragic about his story is that it's not the actual bullying that sends him over, it's Tarrant's own impulsive reaction to it. You can pretty much see on his face the minute he crosses it when he stops shooting, looks out for a moment, and takes in what he's done. Then one of the SORT Team members tells him there's no way out....
- Even Evil Has Standards: Hilariously, Schillinger pulls this on him.Schillinger: You the guy that smashed that statue?Tarrant: Oui.Schillinger: Fuckin' sicko bastard.
- Felony Misdemeanor: His crime seems not to warrant sentencing to a maximum security facility like Oz. Arguably, this trope is intentionally used on his character to drive home the point of the corrupting influence of the American prison system (a theme made explicit in the episode) by showing how prison drives someone who's harmless and Prone to Tears like Tarrant to violence.
- In-Series Nickname: Frenchy.
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: He tries to get through the day reading a thick book in solitude, and pushes away attempts to socialize. It doesn't end well for him.
- Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: Tarrant's crime, taking a hammer to a statue (and concealing said hammer to transport it), is almost laughably harmless compared to the crimes committed by the rest of the cast. The fact that he's not any kind of hardened criminal makes him terribly easy prey for the other prisoners, and eventually ends with him shooting four other people and then turning the gun on himself.
- Karmic Death: Snaps and deals one out to Wangler.
- Naïve Newcomer: Hardly begins to cover it.
- Prone to Tears: He's a teary mess when reporting his stolen shoes to McManus.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Tarrant's total screentime is less than 15 minutes in a single episode, but his rampage rearranges the fates of several characters, which has a domino effect on the rest of the season.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Tarrant is a frail art-vandalizing intellectual who goes to tears when his shoes are taken; naturally, the sponsor selected for him is Hoyt.
- Shadow Archetype: Tarrant's character arc is essentially a shadow version of Beecher's (naïve newcomer forced to learn to defend himself).
- Unwitting Pawn: To Adebisi.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Dear God this poor man is possibly the character least equipped to handle prison ever featured on the show. The other inmates treat him accordingly. When Tarrant finally does hit the breaking point he ends up with a kill count on par with some of the series regulars.
Idzik
Lemuel Idzik
Played By: Joel Grey
Prisoner number 03I462. Convicted February 2, 2003 - Murder in the second degree. Sentence: Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Later convicted of an additional murder; he was sentenced to death, but the death sentence was later commuted back to life imprisonment.
A nihilistic old man who believes all of life and existence is worthless. He murders Kareem Said and Omar White, with the intention of getting executed for that.
- Big "NO!": After his death sentence is overturned.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Everyone else considers him to be crazy.
- Death Seeker: He really wants someone to assist his suicide. After Omar White refuses to do the deed, Idzik kills him so he can go on death row.
- End of the World as We Know It: He's obsessed with the eventual and inevitable end of the universe. The fact that it won't happen for a few billion years doesn't matter.
- Mercy Kill: He asks Omar to kill him as he believes life is pointless. When Omar refuses he kills him to get himself sent to Death Row which doesn't work.
- Nietzsche Wannabe: He believes that because everything will end billions of years later, nothing that people do can ever matter.
- Outside-Context Problem: He shows up completely randomly, motivated by an offscreen But for Me, It Was Tuesday encounter on Kareem Said's part rather than by any of the many many ongoing interpersonal conflicts in Oz, and bumps off two major characters.
Supreme Allah
Kevin "Supreme Allah" Ketchum
Played By: Lord Jamar
Prisoner 00K251. Convicted March 22, 2000 - Second degree murder. Sentence: 25 years, eligible for parole in 10.
An arrogant 5 Percenter who plays a crucial role in Adebisi's empire after he takes over Em City. After it collapses, Supreme Allah begins scheming to regain his old power by killing Burr Redding.
- Action Survivor: A villainous example. Despite rarely being physically aggressive, he survives a number of attempts on his life and is savvy enough to know who is targeting him. Its takes an allergic reaction to eggs to take him down.
- A God Am I: Part of his belief system. 5 Percenters like Supreme are an offshoot of the Nation of Islam that took the belief that God is a black man to its logical conclusion. Orthodox Muslims like Said consider this blasphemy, but Supreme couldn't care less.
- Arch-Enemy: Out of all the inmates in the series, Supreme Allah is one of the most widely hated, and his intolerable nature makes sure he gets all the enemies he can get.
- To Hill, for being the one who snitched him to the police and was responsible for his incarceration.
- To Redding, for effectively ruining the life of his surrogate son, and for trying to get him killed later on.
- Also to Tug Daniels at first, because Supreme Allah was the one to murder his brother. However, the two eventually team up and try to overthrow and kill Redding as the leader of the Homeboys.
- Awesome McCoolname: Subverted as he attempts to go by "Supreme Allah," but a lot of other inmates hate him and derisively call him Kevin.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Supreme Allah believes himself to be a major player in Oz, when it's abundantly clear to anyone with a brain that he's just a moronic thug with a big ego. The only thing he really has going for him is his astounding resilience in spite of the many setbacks he experiences.
- Blasphemous Boast: His choice of nickname is clearly regarded as such by the Muslims, particularly Said. Justified: As a 5 Percenter, he literally believes he is a God.
- Bullying a Dragon: He spends the second half of Season 4 trying to threaten Hill into killing Redding. Hill eventually has enough and arranges to have him poisoned with eggs, triggering a lethal allergic reaction.
- Butt-Monkey: He has a bad tendency to blunder into any framing attempts, none of his schemes ever go right, and he goes through numerous, nearly lethal murder attempts.
- Dirty Coward: Sold out Hill to save his own skin. Plus, he beats Hill up (Hill is in a wheelchair).
- Disproportionate Retribution: He's in prison for killing a man who laughed at him during a dice game.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Insists on going by "Supreme Allah."
- The Friend Nobody Likes: He's loosely affiliated with the Homeboys, but even they mostly hate him.
- Full-Frontal Assault: His beatdown of Hill in the shower.
- Hate Sink: Even among a cast of criminals, he's easily one of the most purely detestable, as he pretty much acts like a smug, violent jerkass to everyone and has few if any Pet the Dog moments.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Supreme Allah is one of the few inmates not to get any sympathetic qualities; he's just an arrogant prick who no one likes. The closest he gets to a Pet the Dog moment, his friendliness to Hill, is a blatant sham to manipulate him.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Delivers one to Augustus Hill.
- Smug Snake: He has a massive ego which is only inflated when Adebisi has him serve as one of his lieutenants during his reign over Em City. While it's clear Adebisi only did it because he recognized Supreme Allah was an easily controlled pawn, it leads him to believe he's on the same tier as Said, Adebisi, and Redding.
- Undignified Death: Compared to the shankings, beatings and other arguably badass deaths that befall other inmates, he is killed by an allergic reaction to eggs.
Kenmin
Jia Kenmin
Played By: Michael Gregory Gong
Prisoner number 01J813, Jia Kenmin. Convicted February 2, 2001 - Possession and distribution of a controlled substance. Sentence: 15 years, up for parole in 5.
- All Asians Know Martial Arts: Played straight (with perhaps a side order of Cast Show-Off, as Michael Gregory Gong is a trained dancer). Possibly justified: he's a triad gangster and his skills in martial arts could be explained by him being a "Red Pole", an enforcer who specializes in fighting.
- Armor-Piercing Question: From Wong Gonjin, one of the Chinese migrants, who asks him if he has more honor than the other prisoners in Oz. He decides that he does. An earlier question from the same immigrant asks him how he could do that to people when his own parents came over the same way.
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: Arguably the only person in the show to successfully use Ryan O'Reily's favorite trick — lying and using another prisoner as a tool — against Ryan himself.
- Subverted in the end as Ryan uses that same trick, except this time using the COs, to have Kenmin eliminated for good.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He is a drug dealer, a gangster and a bastard, but when Wong Gonjin (see above) reminds him of the horrors that the latter and his companions had to go through in China (a trait they share with Jia's parents), and their efforts to escape which were in vain, Jia appears to feel guilty for not being able to help them and promises to kill Morales to avenge Bian Yixhue's murder by the Latinos' leader.
- Evil Gloating: Takes a moment to rub it in Ryan's face when it becomes clear he's gotten Cyril sent to Death Row.
- Hard Head: Averted. One particularly serious blow puts him in a coma for a long while, and eventually the residual damage from that incident is strongly implied to be the reason he does not survive the COs' beating.
- Idiot Ball: Picking fights with Ryan O'Reily for practically no reason at all ends up costing him. Dearly.
- Jerkass: Apart from the Latinos, Jia seems to like antagonising people for little to no reason at all.
- Kick the Dog: Recalls a story to Alvarez about how he once cut a dog to pieces while petting Alvarez's dog. He admits he was joking but whether his story is true or not, the fact that Alvarez was on his road to redemption and that he was no longer associated with the Latinos, who Jia was targeting, makes this conversation qualify for the trope.
- Manipulative Bastard: On par with O'Reily. Using the fact that both him and McManus had a near-death experience to convince the latter to send him back to Em City? Check. Making Ryan believe that his friend Li Chen wanted to rape his mother so that Ryan will attack Chen and give the latter a chance to kill the O'Reily brothers? Check. Fooling a jury into believing that Chen was an innocent victim in order for Cyril to get the death penalty? Check.
- Motive Decay: His justifiable desire for revenge on Morales is quickly subsumed by his feud with O'Reily.
- Noble Demon: Played straight at first, with his desire to avenge Bian Yixhue's death, but later subverted as his grudge towards Ryan O'Reily drives him to become a much more despicable person. See Even Evil Has Standards above.
- Token Minority: The only Asian inmate after the Chinese migrants departs.
- Triads and Tongs: He's a Triad gangster.
Chen
Li Chen
Played By: Nelson Lee
Prisoner number 02L333, Li Chen. Convicted Convicted January 14, 2002 - Four counts of attempted murder. Sentence: 32 years, up for parole in 20.
- Amusingly Awful Aim: Chen is imprisoned for five counts of attempted murder in a parking lot, some of them being hit by a stray bullet for standing in his line of fire, yet we see in his crime flashback that he shoots his primary target several times from afar. Somehow none of them dies.
- The Dragon: Serves as one to Kenmin, following his lead in getting back at O'Reily brothers.
- The Quiet One: Only has few lines of dialogue in Chinese and other than that, he just quietly follows Kenmin wherever he goes.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Subverted. Glen Shupe (who is a compulsive liar) tells O'Reily that Kenmin and Chen are planning to rape Ryan's mother. Kenmin then makes the most out of Shupe's lie and says O'Reily that Li Chen is "one sick fuck" who indeed wants to rape Ryan's mother in order to manipulate O'Reily into attacking him. But it's never proven if Chen was actually willing to go that far.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Dies after two episodes, yet Cyril ends up being sentenced to death for stabbing Chen to death.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Chen's ultimate role ends up being a catalyst for Cyril O'Reily's downfall after he is killed in plain sight.
Montgomery
Martin Montgomery
Played By: Peter Criss
A minor-league baseball player who gets involved with one of O'Reily's schemes.
- The Alcoholic: He would even get drunk while playing baseball.
- Batter Up!: He's in jail for attacking an umpire and a player with a bat during a game.
- Blackmail: Tries to bribe O'Reily for his silence regarding Keenan's murder.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: Receives one courtesy of Stanton. He doesn't die, but he loses the ability to talk.
- Jerk Jock: Even when he isn't drunk, he's pretty unpleasant.
- Shout-Out: Stanton mentions that he can't sing anymore. Criss is an occasional vocalist for rock band KISS.
- Smug Snake: He's an oily bastard who thinks he can blackmail O'Reily. It doesn't end well for him.
- Too Dumb to Live: He tried to con Ryan O'Reily. Of course it didn't go well for him.
Kelsch
Lionel Kelsch
Played by: Tony Hoyt
A prisoner hired as a hitman by the governor in the final episodes. At first he just provides a distraction for another man to kill Loewen then he gets paid to kill more people himself to cover that up.- Bald of Evil: a hairless hired killer.
- Hero Killer: He murders Warden Glynn.
- The Stool Pigeon: Quickly folds under questioning and sells out his bosses.
- Villain Cred: He brags about his killings to the other inmates.
Penders
Greg Penders
Player by: John Lurie
"Prisoner number 97P528, Greg Penders. Convicted May 7, 1997 - Criminally negligent homicide. Sentence: 17 years, up for parole in 9."
An unaffiliated prisoner doing time for criminally negligent homicide.- The Dragon: Penders seemingly steps up as this during Clayton's manic takeover of Solitary for pragmatic reasons,though he kills the latter, eventually seeking brownie points with Glynn by doing so.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: When a guard harasses Penders as he trains a seeing eye dog he ends up siccing the dog on the guard. He also blows up at Nathan when given a bad medical diagnosis although he apologizes when she tells him it's treatable.
- I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: He was threatening a man with a waved gun and it went off.
- Opportunistic Bastard: He saves Warden Glynn from Hughes at least partially for brownie points with the warden and during the drug trial plot line sues the prison when it looks like it has bad side effects even though it turned out that the others who took it dying was because of murder.
Galino
Ralph Galino
Played By: Domenick Lombardozzi
A building contractor sent to Oz after one of his buildings collapsed killing several people.- Stop Being Stereotypical: He refuses to associates with Pancamo or the other Italians, frustrated they give all Italians a reputation as mobsters.
- Status Cell Phone: He brings a cell phone into the prison which is quickly tricked out of him by people wanting to use it to conduct business.
Giles
William Giles
"Peter. Peter Marie."
Played By: Austin Pendleton (old) and Danny Downey (young)
Prisoner number 58G714, William Giles. Convicted February 6, 1958 - Second degree murder. Sentenced to life. Up for parole in 60 years.
An older prisoner with a mysterious connection to Sister Pete.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He disappears after being let out of solitary.
- Cool Old Guy: A friendly, somewhat caring old man who is capable of laying out Miguel with one punch while being bullied by him, and later dupes the penal system to spare himself from execution, earning Moses' respect.
- It's All My Fault: Blames himself for the death of CO Samuel Hughes decades ago for starting a fight Hughes died breaking up.
- Hidden Depths: The novelization reveals that Giles was racist and bullied Hill—his former cellmate—by calling him a "dirty nigger".
- Loophole Abuse: The state law requires convicts to choose their own method of execution. Giles cleverly demands to be stoned to death, which creates such a furor with civil rights groups that Governor Devlin is forced to pardon him and go through the state legislature to amend the law to prevent any more cases like Giles'.
- Obfuscating Insanity: Zigzagged. He's definitely at least somewhat mentally ill but he's also implied to much more aware than he lets on.
- The Old Convict: An aged, long serving prisoner.
- Oral Fixation: He's a dental health fanatic and brushes adamantly multiple times a day. Sister Pete even thanks him once with a box of dental products which Giles is delighted to receive.
- Vigilante Execution: Implied to be the circumstances behind his incarceration. The man he killed murdered Sister Pete's husband, something Giles was aware of.
Stanton
Henry Stanton
"I got my licks in."
Played by: Thomas G. Waites
A hotheaded inmate who briefly befriends Cyril.
- Butt-Monkey: The combination of having O'Reily as a enemy, a nasty temper, and not being too bright means things generally don't go Stanton's way.
- Damned by Faint Praise: His attempt to defend himself for leaving Montgomery mute after stabbing him in the throat.Stanton: I didn't kill him, he just can't sing no more!
- Hair-Trigger Temper: He has frequent outbursts of getting mad at or attacking people.
- Large Ham: He's prone to loud threats when he's angry. Which is all the time.
- Laughably Evil: He's undeniably a terrible person, but he's also hilarious.
- Non-Protagonist Resolver: He's a very minor prisoner who doesn't even have his crime revealed but he's the one who tells the staff of Oz that Kelsch killed Glynn after hearing him brag about it, potentially bringing down Devlin.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Implied, as he's shown playing cards with the Aryans at one point.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: He's the most foul mouthed character in the series, even moreso than the other prisoners.
- Villainous Friendship: He tries to have one with Cyril, but O'Reily loathes him and constantly gets in the way,
Colonel Galson
Colonel Edward Galson
Played By: John Doman
A military officer sent to Oz for rape.
- The Alcoholic: He has a drinking problem he asks Sister Pete's help with. Galson being Galson, he insults everyone else there for being weak and refuses to admit he has a problem.
- The Atoner: One of his few sympathetic traits is that he acknowledges his crime and fully admits that he is being deservedly punished for breaking the code he has lived by for decades.
- Berserk Button: He doesn't take kindly to not being given the respect he feels owed or any insults towards the military.
- Commonality Connection: He befriends fellow Vietnam vet Redding.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: He gets crushed by an elevator, courtesy of Morales.
- Disappeared Dad: He's divorced from his wife and his daughter wants her stepfather to walk her down the aisle when she gets married.
- The Dragon: He becomes this to Redding, serving as his right-hand man and enforcer.
- Fish out of Water: He expects living in Oz to be like barracks, i.e. large numbers of me in close proximity with strict rules. What he doesn't realise is there are significant difference between prison and the military, namely that people in the military choose to be there and can leave if they want to and are all working towards the same goal and share the same allegiance whereas everyone in prison is out for themselves.
- From Camoflauge To Criminal: Averted, surprisingly enough. He was a colonel in the Marine Corps but his conviction had nothing to do with going into a life of crime. He is also completely unable to transfer his skills as a Marine to life in prison, getting easily beaten in his only two fights by civilians.
- Groin Attack: Beecher responds to his asking if Beecher is a "faggot" and his remarks about gays ruining the military by sarcastically saying that he agrees and that the military should stay the same as always: full of redneck he-men who kill children and rape women. Galson doesn't take kindly to this, grabbing Beecher and pulling him off of his bunk, only for Beecher to neutralize him with one punch directly to the scrotum.
- Heteronormative Crusader: He's quick to use homophobic slurs and state his belief gays are ruining the military.
- Insistent Terminology: Despite being in prison and presumably dishonorably discharged from the Marines, he still insists on being addressed as "Colonel".
- Jerkass: He's an arrogant, stern prick who tries to bully Beecher out of homophobia.
- Odd Friendship: He and Burr Redding bond over both being Vietnam veterans despite their many differences.
- Old Soldier: A long serving military man who was in Vietnam.
- Paper Tiger: Carries himself like a tough guy but the only two fights he's in end with him being easily beaten by civilians, the second of which ends in him being gruesomely killed.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He's vocally homophobic, claiming that gays are ruining the military.
- Semper Fi: He's a former Colonel in the Marine Corps.
- Sixth Ranger: To the Homeboys. He's not technically part of the gang, but he still serves as Redding's primary enforcer.
- Smug Snake: He's very arrogant and brags about his combat experience, but proves unable to back it up. Both times he gets into a fight, he's taken down almost immediately.
- The Vietnam Vet: He served in Vietnam.
- Villainous Friendship: With Redding.
Guenzel
Adam Guenzel
Played By: Mike Doyle
A rapist and former friend of Beecher.- Asshole Victim: He's turned into a sex slave for the Aryans and later duped into an escape attempt which kills him. Only Beecher feels bad about his fate.
- The Atoner: Suberted. He seems to be this at first, being overcome with guilt about his brutal rape and attack on a girl, but later recounts the event with pride when trying to win over other inmates, implying his remorse was just due to being in prison and facing consequences for it.
- Berserk Button: Adam is extremely homophobic and the mere mention of homosexuality or being around someone he knows is gay or bi sends him into an explosive violent rage.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He seems like a relatively innocent new arrival at first, someone like Beecher who did something horrible and now feels intense remorse for it. But his horrible side gradually comes out over the course of the season and he fully embraces his vile aspects after turning against Beecher.
- Break the Haughty: He's an Upper-Class Twit who's even never made enough his own bed before and homophobically rejected the one guy trying to help him. Then the Aryans get their hand shot on him and he's rendered a complete mess.
- Didn't Think This Through: He turns against the one person trying to help him and switches to a gang known for preying on new arrivals and who he'd seen turn his friend into a sex slave, seeming to believe he'd be welcomed as one of them. Shockingly, it doesn't turn out well for him.
- Dirty Coward: Sure he will attack people who can’t defend themselves ( his rape victim Sarah) or attack people when their backs are turned ( Tobias and Winthrop) but as mentioned about and Break the Haughty? He’s reduced to crying and screaming for help once Vern and the boys snatch him up and give him a taste of his own well deserved medicine and later desperately trying to escape the prison, getting himself killed in the process.
- Even Evil Has Standards: When he gleefully brags to the Bikers about him and Winthrop brutally raping Sarah, thinking that it would curry cool points with the more hardened criminals, the Bikers themselves show their disgust with Gunzel for number one: being a rapist which is the one of the worst things you can be even in a maximum security prison, number two: for bragging about it like the sex was consensual and number three because he raped a woman he knew for crying out loud.
- Hate Sink: Adam wasn’t meant to be loved with him being a savage rapist and attempted murderer but it did look like he genuinely felt remorse for his actions and was trying to find possible redemption thanks to Tobias being his sponsor but once the Aryans are able to manipulate him into turning against Tobias? He easily becomes one of the most hated and despised characters in the entire series as he gives into his unsavory nature by being homophobic, violent and overall a GIGANTIC smug asshole who thinks he’s tougher than he really is.
- Ironic Echo: When Vern and his boys finally get Gunzel and prepare to have their way with him, he is heard screaming and shouting for them to get off of him and crying out for help but the Aryans don’t stop and rape him. Adam’s rape victim Sarah shouted and cried out for him and Winthrop to stop as well but both of them ignored her and carried out the brutal and disgusting deed. Guess to say Adam had to found out the hard way that when someone says no, it means no!
- Jerkass: Adam has no likeable or redeeming qualities of any kind. Sent to Oz for brutally raping a woman and attempting to kill her with a rock, Adam betrays and bullies Beecher upon learning of his affair with Keller, brags about his crimes to the Bikers and goes out of his way to antagonize nearly everyone with his unpleasant and hostile attitude. It bites him in the ass big time, as all of his “allies” (including Beecher) turn on him, and he ends up as Vern’s sex slave.
- Subverted with Sister Pete to whom he speaks quite formally and even apologizes for swearing.
- Karmic Rape: He's in jail for a brutal rape and assault and ends up one of Vern's sex slaves while there.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He's intensely homophobic, even more so than the Aryans, turning against Beecher as soon as he learns of his affair with Keller and even trying to attack him over it. Ironically, Adam's actor, Mike Doyle, is openly gay in real life.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: While Gunzel isn’t the first convict in Oz for rape but the brutal way he conducted it, leaving her with serious brain damage, along with him later bragging and grinning to the Bikers about how he had poor Sarah face down in the grass while carrying out the heinous deed clearly places him as among the lowest of the low even by Oz’s standards. Even other brutal inmates are disgusted at his sadistic gloating about it. Truth in television as rapists are considered among absolute scum in prison right alongside those who hurt or abuse children.
- Sadist: When given the opportunity to hurt someone else, it's clear that he enjoys it. He has a huge grin on his face whilst gang raping an innocent girl and attempting to bludgeon her to death with a rock, and also gets a visible kick out of bullying Beecher in front of the Bikers.
- Shadow Archetype: For Beecher who he's known his whole life. Both are from privileged backgrounds and are hopelessly out of their element in Oz. But while Tobias knew that and acted accordingly, Adam carries himself like a tough guy and finds out the hard way that he isn't. Similarly, while Tobias felt sincere remorse for his crime and tried to maintain some semblance of morality, Adam quickly showed that he wasn't repentant at all and gave himself over entirely to his evil side. Both were also mad sex slaves for Schillinger but while that experience made the audience sympathize with Tobias and led to him eventually fighting back, Adam's rape is treated as karmic and the result of his own stupidity and bigotry and he never fights back, dying while trying to escape.
- Shock and Awe: He is killed when he tries to escape and is caught in the electrified fence.
- Too Dumb to Live: He's a privileged rich kid in a maximum security prison and he violently rejects the only person who was protecting him to join a group known for sexually abusing new arrivals like him. It goes about as well as you'd expect for him.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Turns against Beecher after finding out about his homosexual affairs with Keller despite him protecting Gunzel from the Aryans.
- Upper-Class Twit: He grew up in the same world Beecher did and was so privileged he never even had to make his own bed and he shows himself to be a deeply stupid and arrogant young man who is shockingly oblivious to the realities of prison life.
- Would Hit a Girl: Well, he is in prison for a savage rape and attempted murder of his own friend Sarah.
Mayor Loewen
Mayor Wilson Loewen
Played By: Tom Atkins
A politician and close friend of Devlin arrested after it was uncovered he participated in the murder of two black girls.
- Asshole Victim: No one sheds any tears when Devlin has him murdered to cover his own ass.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He's immensely likable, even after his conviction, but is really a spiteful, petty man with ties to white supremacist groups.
- Broken Pedestal: He's looked up to by Vern Schillinger but it goes away when Loewen reveals what he really thinks of Vern and that he only ever gave a shit about him because of Vern's dad.
- Corrupt Politician: He's a member of the KKK and is implied to have participated in dirty dealings with Devlin. If Vern Schillinger looks up to you, you kind of have to be this.
- Evil Old Folks: He's old enough to have been friends with Vern's father and is played by an actor in his late sixties and is a thoroughly vile racist.
- Faux Affably Evil: He's very charismatic and hard not to like but it's just a facade for the evil bastard he really is.
- Jerkass Has a Point: He's awful and his assessment of Vern is needlessly cruel but it's also not totally inaccurate that for all his posturing, Vern hasn't done anything for the Brotherhood beyond commit acts of petty cruelty that either didn't help anyone or just made things worse for himself and others and that his ego outweighs his actual skills.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He's as racist as Vern with ties to the Aryan Brotherhood and KKK.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He gives an absolutely withering one to Vern, saying Vern just has a huge ego with nothing to back it up and calling him an embarrassment. Vern actually looks like he's going to break down in tears after it.
- Ungrateful Bastard: When Vern offers to have the Brotherhood protect him Loewen tells him he is an embarrassment and that he has no balls.
- Villainous Friendship: His bond with Vern's father was real which is why he tolerated him at all.
- Villain with Good Publicity: He's very well thought of with close ties to Governor Devlin and even Ronald Reagan and even his conviction and ties to white supremacist groups hasn't completely undone his reputation.
- Would Hurt a Child: He was involved in the murder of two young black girls.
Goergen
Bruno Goergen
Played By: Harry O'Reilly
Prisoner #00G115. Convicted March 15, 2000 - Illegal possession and sale of firearms, Murder in the first degree. Sentence: 36 years, up for parole in 18.
A corrupt cop arrested for murder and participating in a gun smuggling ring.
- Asshole Victim: Deconstructed. Goergen is undeniably a bastard, but as Hill points out, Basil murdering him is still murder, and his lack of remorse for his crime is undeniably callous, especially for a lawman.Hill: It takes a monster to kill a monster.
- Blackmail Backfire: His attempts to blackmail Basil get him killed.
- The Bully: Basil bluntly tells him that he was a bully who constantly abused his authority, and the second he gets into Oz the very first thing Goergen does is be a dick to everyone in sight.
- Corrupted Character Copy: Of Roger Gaffney, if only barely. Gaffney and Goergen are both racist, smug bullies who use their badge as an excuse to push people around and have a rivalry with a black colleague (Pembleton for Gaffney and Basil for Goergen). However, Gaffney never actually breaks the law, whereas Goergen is a murderous Dirty Cop who was involved in a gun smuggling ring.
- Dirty Cop: What he was on the outside, before getting imprisoned.
- Dirty Coward: Normally, his occupation would lead to the inmates eating him alive, but his status as the top witness in a gun smuggling case means he's been given a new identity. In spite of this, Goergen is so terrified of anything happening to him that he blackmails Basil and threatens to expose him, noting that he would rat him out if his own true identity is discovered just to save his own ass.
- Disney Villain Death: Basil shoves him down an elevator shaft.
- Jerkass: He's an aggressive, selfish, racist bully who acts like an asshole to everyone in sight the second he gets into Oz. John Basil outright admits he never liked him.
- Kick The Son Of A Bitch: He's bullied by the Homeboys the second he gets into Oz, but Goergen's such an asshole that it's hard to feel bad, especially since he's a massive bully himself.
- Kick the Dog: He establishes himself as an asshole by insulting Hill and Sister Pete the second he gets into Oz.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He's a racist bastard who really doesn't like black people, and he's also rather sexist.
- Straw Misogynist: He makes an extremely crass and sexist joke to Sister Pete when she tries to help him adjust to prison life.
- Ungrateful Bastard: His reaction to Sister Pete trying to help him adjust to prison is to insult her and tell her to buzz off.
Poklewadt
Ronald Poklewadt
Played By: Brian Tarantina
Prisoner number 94P442. Convicted March 8, '94 - Arson in the second degree. Sentence: 25 years, up for parole in 10.
A prisoner arrested for burning down a firehouse.
- Everyone Has Standards: His morals obviously aren't the best but he immediately refuses when he thinks O'Reily wants him to whack someone.
Zabitz
Eli Zabitz
"This is my life we're talking about!"
Played By: David Johansen
Prisoner #96Z858. Convicted April 1, 1996 - Aggravated assault. Sentence: 9 years, up for parole in 6.
A prisoner arrested after he attacked his boss.
- Actually Pretty Funny: Keller and Robson look like they might actually get into their own knife fight over who gets to kill Zabitz. But then Zabitz drops dead of a heart attack, and Keller kicks the body over just to make sure. Keller's and Robson's initial hostilities quickly give way to shared bemusement over Zabitz's pathetic death. They both say "later" and depart, almost like they had a brief bonding moment.
- Asshole Victim: Hilariously subverted. He manages to make the mistake of pissing off both the Aryans and Keller, but he winds up dying of a heart attack while Keller and Robson argue about who gets to kill him.
- Can't Take Criticism: He splashed his boss's groin with boiling oil because he criticized him.
- Dirty Coward: He's a total coward who panics at the first sign of danger. He winds up dying of a heart attack after Keller and Robson's argument over who gets to kill Zabitz scares him enough.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He mentions having a daughter whose dental surgery he needs to pay for.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He has glasses, and is a cowardly weasel.
- Greed: He demands an exorbitant amount of money from Beecher to figure out who kidnapped his children, then makes Schillinger give him more money so he'll frame Keller.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: He's slippery, but he's way out of his league dealing with Schillinger and Keller.
- Jerkass: He's something of a prick, which makes it difficult to feel too bad for him.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: He bears a physical resemblance to Stephen King.
- Too Dumb to Live: He tries to get Schillinger to protect him by threatening to rat on him if he doesn't. Guess what Schillinger does instead.
- Undignified Death: He spends his last moments pathetically begging Robson and Keller not to kill him while they argue over who gets to do it, then abruptly keels over from a heart attack while they watch in disbelief.
Seroy
Clarence Seroy
Played By: Emanuel Yarbrough
Prisoner number 02S812. Convinced March 24th 2002, 50 Counts Of Arson In The Second Degree, 10 Counts Of Conspiracy To Commit Felony Arson. Sentence: Life Imprisonment, Up For Parole In 36 Years
A prisoner serving a life sentence for multiple counts of arson.
- Depraved Homosexual: Attempted to rape Winthrop (who later would shortly become the Aryans' sex slave) and successfully rapes Robson.
- Fat Bastard: He's a serial arsonist who happens to be morbidly obese.
- Frame-Up: Gets framed for Beecher's father's murder at the hands of Winthrop and the Aryans. He's eventually found not guilty.
- Karmic Rape: Played both ways with him. His anal rape of Robson might be considered karmic justice, as one serial rapist is violating another. But later Robson cheerfully tells Seroy that he's HIV positive... and knew the whole time, meaning Seroy might also be getting some payback for the inmates he's raped.
Rosa
Pablo Rosa
Played By: Michael Rivera
Prisoner #02R104. Convicted December 22, 2002 - Involuntary Manslaughter. Sentence: 18 years, up for parole in 10
A Latino teenager convicted of accidentally shooting a classmate.
- Good Counterpart: To Kenny Wangler. Like Kenny he's a kid who shot another kid; but while Kenny murdered a boy over a jacket, Pablo accidentally shot someone in another room while playing with a gun. Also, they both have a member of prison staff reach out to them to try to prevent them descending into the criminal lifestyle; but while Kenny happily embraced being a Gang Banger and threw McManus' attempts to help him back in his face, Pablo quickly develops a great deal of respect for the prison librarian who tries to steer him away from violence.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: He's pretty aggressive and prone to violence, but only because he's scared to death in Oz and thinks it's the best way to protect himself.
- Improbable Weapon User: He beats another inmate with a hardback, which brings him to the librarian's attention.
- Reckless Gun Usage: Why he's in prison.
Jara
Kipekemie Jara
Played By: Zakes Mokae
Prisoner #98J604. Convicted August 1, 1998 - Criminally Negligent Homicide. Sentence: 20 years, up for parole in 8.
A Nigerian Yoruba mystic, convicted of negligent homicide after a boy he was trying to heal with a traditional ritual died. He briefly attempted to guide Adebisi out of his violent ways but he was murdered by an unlikely alliance between Antonio Nappa and Kenny Wangler to push Adebsi over the edge and remove him as an adversary.
- Cool Old Guy: He's stern and takes no shit from anyone, not even Adebisi.
- Cultural Posturing: He has pretty open disdain for American culture compared to traditional African culture.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Subverted. Although Adebisi continues to align himself with the Homeboys after they kill Jara, he plays the long game to take revenge, horribly burning or engineering the deaths of those responsible.
- Go Out with a Smile: He dies with a smile on his face, as according to his beliefs his soul will return to his homeland in Africa.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Antonio Nappa suggests Jara may be influencing Adebisi with magic when Adebisi has an intense vision of him, although it's equally likely that Simon is just crazy.
- Nice Guy: Compared to other prisoners in Oz, he's a pretty decent fellow whose only crime was using a Nigerian ritual to heal a dying boy.
- Parental Substitute: Briefly becomes this to Adebisi.
- Stop Being Stereotypical: He chastises Adebisi for acting like the Scary Black Man white Americans expect him to be.
- Witch Doctor
Walker
Jiggy Walker
Played By: LL Cool J
Prisoner number 98W504, Jiggy Walker. Convicted July 12, '98 - Murder in the second degree. Sentence: 28 years, up for parole in 20.
An African-American inmate who shot a man in a dispute over a card game. When he gets to Oz he claims to be Governor Devlin's meth dealer and becomes a short-lived media sensation, until Devlin proves he is lying. He is kicked out of Em City for his lies, as Tim McManus supported his claims in the hopes of bringing Devlin down and was embarrassed when he was debunked.
- Attention Whore: He makes up his story in the hopes of becoming a celebrity so his family will visit him again.
- Blatant Lies: His story about selling drugs to Devlin falls apart with just the slightest investigation.
- Did Not Think This Through: This is written all over his face when McManus transfers him to Gen Pop.
- Disco Dan: Implied, in his crime flashback he's wearing a brightly coloured zoot suit and fedora.
- Evil Is Petty: Cheats at cards.
- One-Shot Character: It's not like LL Cool J would have time to film multiple episodes.
- Put on a Bus: McManus transfers him to Gen Pop, never to be seen again.
- Selective Obliviousness: His story about being the Governor's dealer is obviously false, but Said and McManus believe him without question, likely because they hate Devlin and want it to be true.
Vogel
Alexander Vogel
Played by: Brian Smyj
Prisoner number 98V238, Alexander Vogel. Convicted June 1, '98 - Two counts murder in the second degree, theft. Sentence: 50 years, up for parole in 30.
A notorious Jewish inmate who becomes a target for the Aryan Brotherhood in order to renew their reputation.
- Ax-Crazy: His crime flashback says it all. The guy is a vicious street thug imprisoned for brutally stabbing and robbing an elderly couple to death. He even stabs the poor old man multiple times in a fit of rage while splattering blood all over his face. Somehow, even a quick shot of Vogel eating a sandwich makes him look like a completely unhinged psycho.
- The Dreaded: Part of what makes him a perfect target for the Aryans, aside from his ethnicity.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He dies immediately after being introduced, but his death effectively restores the reputation of the Aryans. And motivates his best friend Stanislofsky into seeking revenge on the killer.
