Prison Brutality Portrayed In The Ugly Land Of ‘Oz’

To late-night on HBO comes an intriguing if seriously brutal drama series about life and insecurity in the Oswald Maximum Security Prison - “Oz” for short. It launches tonight at 11:30, then resumes in a regular Monday slot.

Don’t look for laughs. But what you can look for is anger, meanness, humiliation, kicking and stabbing, sexual ugliness and rampant unpleasantness. The wise guys hate the blacks, who hate the Muslims, who hate the Latinos, who hate Aryans, who hate all of the above, and who in turn hate all of the below.

However (a large “however”), the lads from “Homicide: Life on the Street” - executive producers Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana, with Fontana doing all the writing - bring their impressive talents to the party.

They’ve taken a unique premise (for a series, anyway) and populated a prison full of challenging characters.

Among those introduced in the premiere: the firm-handed warden (Ernie Hudson), the do-goodly rehabilitation supervisor (Terry Kinney), the godfatherly Italian drug king on campus (Tony Musante), the worldly wise nun who does the counseling (Rita Moreno), and a militant Muslim who fashions himself a “political prisoner” (Eamonn Walker).

Of special contribution is Jon Seda, who plays a muscle-bound lifer devoted to combating the whole world and finally finds redemption in the pits of this one. He delivers the singular performance of the opener.