<P> Brooks is paroled in 1954 after serving 50 years, but he cannot adjust to the outside world, and he commits suicide by hanging himself . Andy receives a library donation that includes a recording of The Marriage of Figaro . He plays an excerpt over the public address system, and is punished with solitary confinement . After his release from solitary, Andy explains that hope is what gets him through his time, a concept that Red dismisses . In 1963, Norton begins exploiting prison labor for public works, profiting by undercutting skilled labor costs and receiving bribes . Andy launders the money using the alias Randall Stephens . </P> <P> Tommy Williams is incarcerated for burglary in 1965 . Andy and Red befriend him, and Andy helps him pass his GED exam . A year later, Tommy reveals to Red and Andy that an inmate at another prison claimed responsibility for the murders for which Andy was convicted . Andy approaches Norton with this information, but he refuses to listen and sends him back to solitary confinement when he mentions the money laundering . Norton has Hadley murder Tommy under the guise of an escape attempt . Andy declines to continue the laundering, but he relents after Norton threatens to burn the library, remove Andy's protection from the guards, and move him to worse conditions . After two months, Andy is released from solitary confinement, and he tells Red of his dream of living in Zihuatanejo, a Mexican coastal town . Red feels Andy is being unrealistic, but promises him that if he is ever released, he will visit a specific hayfield near Buxton, Maine, and retrieve a package Andy buried there . He worries about Andy's well - being, especially when he learns Andy asked another inmate to supply him with six feet (1.8 meters) of rope . </P> <P> The next day at roll call, the guards find Andy's cell empty . An irate Norton throws a rock at the poster of Raquel Welch hanging on the cell wall, revealing a tunnel that Andy dug with his rock hammer over the last 19 years . The previous night, Andy escaped through the tunnel and prison sewage pipe, using the rope to bring with him Norton's suit, shoes, and the ledger containing details of the money laundering . While guards search for him, Andy poses as Randall Stephens and visits several banks to withdraw the laundered money, then mails the ledger and evidence of the corruption and murders at Shawshank to a local newspaper . State police arrive at Shawshank and take Hadley into custody, while Norton commits suicide to avoid arrest . </P> <P> After serving 40 years, Red is paroled . He struggles to adapt to life outside prison and fears that he never will . Remembering his promise to Andy, he visits Buxton and finds a cache containing money, and a letter asking him to come to Zihuatanejo . Red violates his parole and travels to Fort Hancock, Texas to cross the border into Mexico, admitting he finally feels hope . On a beach in Zihuatanejo he finds Andy, and the two friends are happily reunited . </P>

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