Madea Goes to Jail (2009) Synopsis

After a high-speed freeway police chase (seen in "Meet the Browns") results in Madea being pulled over and arrested, though she isn't convicted due to a legal loophole, as the officers failed to mirandize her, she admits her permanent license suspension and Judge Mablean Ephriam places her in an anger management course. Returning home from court, Madea finds a party taking place in her house hosted by her brother, Joe Simmons, who claims he threw the party to try and cheer up Madea. However, Madea isn't amused by the festivities and uses a machine gun to scare the party goers away.Madea consults with Doctor Phil McGraw for anger management, but doesn't cooperate with McGraw. Returning home, Madea, needing to buy groceries, calls Cora, who is at the hair salon, to drive her to the store, but Cora refuses to end her appointment early, angering Madea. Joe predicts that Madea will get into trouble if she drives to the store herself, but Madea ignores him and goes anyway. At Kmart, a woman steals the parking space that Madea was about to take and acts very snobbish to Madea when she confronts the woman over it, so Madea commandeers a forklift truck to remove the woman's car from the space, wrecking the car in the process. Madea is arrested and brought to court again, where Judge Greg Mathis sentences her to prison for five to ten years.Meanwhile, assistant district attorney Joshua Hardaway is on the fast track to career success. He is prosecuting a young prostitute and drug addict, Candace "Candy" Washington, with whom he is already acquainted. Josh asks his fiancée and fellow ADA Linda Davis to fill in on his behalf. But when Josh takes Candy out to eat and gives her his business card for future assistance, Linda gets jealous and fears Josh may be cheating on her. Although Josh tries to assure her that he is only trying to help an old friend, Linda tells him that it was Candace's own fault for being who she is and that he should only socialize with a higher class of people. Josh, however, keeps helping Candace anyway, to the points of rescuing her from a pimp and later finding her strung out at his front door, bringing her into his home on both occasions to spend the night. When Linda finds out, she gets furious and threatens to leave him unless he puts Candace out of his life for good. Conversely, Candace sees right through Linda upon meeting her and tells Josh that it will never work between them since they're too different: Josh cares about helping anyone he sees in trouble, no matter their class, while Linda is a spoiled brat who considers people who have a lower status than her as inferior.Josh later runs into his friend Ellen, a former drug addict and prostitute who has now become a minister that helps other women get off the streets. After Josh asks Ellen to help Candace, Ellen gets her a job interview, but it results in sexual harassment by the interviewer, whom Candace kicks in the groin before storming out. Just before Madea's trial, Ellen asks Josh how he knows Candace. He tells Ellen that they were close friends from childhood through college, but during their college years, all of Josh's friends mistreated and bullied Candace because of her background and he started pushing her away out of embarrassment. He breaks down when he talks about one particular night when he took her to a party. He ended up going on a date and leaving Candace behind at the party, where a group of his friends gang-raped her in his absence. Since then, Josh has continued to harbor deep-seated guilt for leaving her behind and failing to protect her. Ellen comforts him and tells him that he shouldn't continue holding on to the guilt and that it was never his fault, especially since Candace already had personal troubles beforehand.At the district attorney's office, Josh's best friend, Chuck, runs into Linda and discovers that she is falsifying Candace's file to deliberately get her sent to prison and away from Josh, a practice she has engaged with other defendants as well, including Madea. Linda blackmails him to keep his mouth shut under the threat of telling their and Josh's boss, the head A.D.A. that Chuck cheated on his bar exam to get his law license. Candace refuses to show up to her trial and returns to prostitution, until she is arrested by an undercover policeman. Due to Linda's falsifying of her file, the judge gives her a seventeen-year prison sentence. Linda later lies to Josh back at the office and tells him that she "tried" to be lenient, but that the case was too severe. Chuck overhears this and nearly tells Josh the truth, but hesitates because of Linda's previous threat towards him.While in prison, Madea befriends Candace and comes to her defense when she is sexually harassed by Big Sal. Candace, Madea, T.T. (Madea's cellmate) and Donna (Candace's fellow prostitute friend) attend a class taught by Ellen at the prison, in order to have time reduced from their sentences. During a lesson about forgiveness, Madea notices that one of the inmates would rather play victim instead of taking responsibility for her crimes. She tells the women and the class that they need to stop seeing themselves as victims and forgive those who led them onto the bad paths they've been on, as they weren't the ones who ended up in jail. Candace is moved by her words and during a visit with Josh, she admits that back when she was raped at the party he took her to, she called his name repeatedly as the attack happened, but he never came for her. Candace held on to her anger at him for so long that she forgot how to move on, which resulted in her dropping out of school and becoming a drug addict and prostitute. But with everything she learned from Ellen and Madea, she finally decides to forgive Josh and pick up the pieces of her life.On Josh's wedding day, Chuck, serving as best man, tells him that Linda falsified Candace's file. During the ceremony, Josh, appalled by Linda's deceit and fraud, tells the congregation, including their boss, the Mayor and the Governor what she has done and jilts her at the altar, to Chuck's satisfaction. Josh then rushes to the prison where he admits to Candace that he loves her and will help her get out of jail and restore her life.Because of the now-revealed news of Linda's tampering with client files, there is a public outcry and a protest movement gains momentum to set Madea, Candace and Linda's other defendants free. In the end, Candace, Madea and five other women that Linda prosecuted have their convictions overturned and are released, while Linda is indicted on multiple charges including fraud, evidence tampering and providing false legal documents and inevitably faces arrest, trial and imprisonment for her crimes. The film ends with Candace and Josh, now a couple, walking out of the prison and sharing a kiss in front of the press.

After a high-speed freeway police chase (seen in "Meet the Browns") results in Madea being pulled over and arrested, though she isn't convicted due to a legal loophole, as the officers failed to mirandize her, she admits her permanent license suspension and Judge Mablean Ephriam places her in an anger management course. Returning home from court, Madea finds a party taking place in her house hosted by her brother, Joe Simmons, who claims he threw the party to try and cheer up Madea. However, Madea isn't amused by the festivities and uses a machine gun to scare the party goers away.Madea consults with Doctor Phil McGraw for anger management, but doesn't cooperate with McGraw. Returning home, Madea, needing to buy groceries, calls Cora, who is at the hair salon, to drive her to the store, but Cora refuses to end her appointment early, angering Madea. Joe predicts that Madea will get into trouble if she drives to the store herself, but Madea ignores him and goes anyway. At Kmart, a woman steals the parking space that Madea was about to take and acts very snobbish to Madea when she confronts the woman over it, so Madea commandeers a forklift truck to remove the woman's car from the space, wrecking the car in the process. Madea is arrested and brought to court again, where Judge Greg Mathis sentences her to prison for five to ten years.Meanwhile, assistant district attorney Joshua Hardaway is on the fast track to career success. He is prosecuting a young prostitute and drug addict, Candace "Candy" Washington, with whom he is already acquainted. Josh asks his fiancée and fellow ADA Linda Davis to fill in on his behalf. But when Josh takes Candy out to eat and gives her his business card for future assistance, Linda gets jealous and fears Josh may be cheating on her. Although Josh tries to assure her that he is only trying to help an old friend, Linda tells him that it was Candace's own fault for being who she is and that he should only socialize with a higher class of people. Josh, however, keeps helping Candace anyway, to the points of rescuing her from a pimp and later finding her strung out at his front door, bringing her into his home on both occasions to spend the night. When Linda finds out, she gets furious and threatens to leave him unless he puts Candace out of his life for good. Conversely, Candace sees right through Linda upon meeting her and tells Josh that it will never work between them since they're too different: Josh cares about helping anyone he sees in trouble, no matter their class, while Linda is a spoiled brat who considers people who have a lower status than her as inferior.Josh later runs into his friend Ellen, a former drug addict and prostitute who has now become a minister that helps other women get off the streets. After Josh asks Ellen to help Candace, Ellen gets her a job interview, but it results in sexual harassment by the interviewer, whom Candace kicks in the groin before storming out. Just before Madea's trial, Ellen asks Josh how he knows Candace. He tells Ellen that they were close friends from childhood through college, but during their college years, all of Josh's friends mistreated and bullied Candace because of her background and he started pushing her away out of embarrassment. He breaks down when he talks about one particular night when he took her to a party. He ended up going on a date and leaving Candace behind at the party, where a group of his friends gang-raped her in his absence. Since then, Josh has continued to harbor deep-seated guilt for leaving her behind and failing to protect her. Ellen comforts him and tells him that he shouldn't continue holding on to the guilt and that it was never his fault, especially since Candace already had personal troubles beforehand.At the district attorney's office, Josh's best friend, Chuck, runs into Linda and discovers that she is falsifying Candace's file to deliberately get her sent to prison and away from Josh, a practice she has engaged with other defendants as well, including Madea. Linda blackmails him to keep his mouth shut under the threat of telling their and Josh's boss, the head A.D.A. that Chuck cheated on his bar exam to get his law license. Candace refuses to show up to her trial and returns to prostitution, until she is arrested by an undercover policeman. Due to Linda's falsifying of her file, the judge gives her a seventeen-year prison sentence. Linda later lies to Josh back at the office and tells him that she "tried" to be lenient, but that the case was too severe. Chuck overhears this and nearly tells Josh the truth, but hesitates because of Linda's previous threat towards him.While in prison, Madea befriends Candace and comes to her defense when she is sexually harassed by Big Sal. Candace, Madea, T.T. (Madea's cellmate) and Donna (Candace's fellow prostitute friend) attend a class taught by Ellen at the prison, in order to have time reduced from their sentences. During a lesson about forgiveness, Madea notices that one of the inmates would rather play victim instead of taking responsibility for her crimes. She tells the women and the class that they need to stop seeing themselves as victims and forgive those who led them onto the bad paths they've been on, as they weren't the ones who ended up in jail. Candace is moved by her words and during a visit with Josh, she admits that back when she was raped at the party he took her to, she called his name repeatedly as the attack happened, but he never came for her. Candace held on to her anger at him for so long that she forgot how to move on, which resulted in her dropping out of school and becoming a drug addict and prostitute. But with everything she learned from Ellen and Madea, she finally decides to forgive Josh and pick up the pieces of her life.On Josh's wedding day, Chuck, serving as best man, tells him that Linda falsified Candace's file. During the ceremony, Josh, appalled by Linda's deceit and fraud, tells the congregation, including their boss, the Mayor and the Governor what she has done and jilts her at the altar, to Chuck's satisfaction. Josh then rushes to the prison where he admits to Candace that he loves her and will help her get out of jail and restore her life.Because of the now-revealed news of Linda's tampering with client files, there is a public outcry and a protest movement gains momentum to set Madea, Candace and Linda's other defendants free. In the end, Candace, Madea and five other women that Linda prosecuted have their convictions overturned and are released, while Linda is indicted on multiple charges including fraud, evidence tampering and providing false legal documents and inevitably faces arrest, trial and imprisonment for her crimes. The film ends with Candace and Josh, now a couple, walking out of the prison and sharing a kiss in front of the press.

Published Time: 2020-09-11 09:45:04