12. Penitence — Episode — Without a Trace

12. Penitence

When James MacAvoy, a prisoner only two weeks from parole, disappears during a fight in the yard along with another prisoner, his sister contacts the FBI for help. No one can figure out why a member of the Aryan gang would escape with a black prisoner. While Martin and Viv talk to the other prisoners and Jack tries to wade his way through the sister's lies and half-truths where her brother is concerned, Danny focuses on a new prisoner who Mac had been protecting.

Plot summary and ending

Spoilers ahead. Coverage follows the scope labeled below.

Complete story — includes the ending

A prison inmate, James MacAvoy, goes missing just weeks before he is due to be released on parole. James' sister contacts Jack's team and begs them to look into it. The prison authorities say that he escaped during a yard fight, but his sister passionately believes otherwise, that he is a reformed character who had "found God". After discovering that James has been an enforcer for a neo-Nazi prison gang, the team find evidence that suggests he may not be the changed man his sister claims, and that he could be involved in a plot to silence a witness to a death row crime, suspected to have been committed by a fellow inmate.

Sources and content license

Source and revision history · Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Without a Trace season 3. HTML formatting and reference markers removed. · Content license