Star Trek: Hard Time

Episode: "Hard Time"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 4, Episode 19

Original Air Date: April 15, 1996

via Memory Alpha

During a mission to Argathra, Chief O'Brien is falsely accused of espionage.  Unfortunately, Argathri justice is swift.  Before Starfleet can intervene, 20 years of prison memories are imbedded in O'Brien's brain and Doctor Bashir is unable to remove them.  Obviously, returning to "real life" after such an experience is brutally challenging.  

Star Trek's fascination with criminal procedures on other planets continues.  The closest precedent is Voyager's "Ex Post Facto" in which Tom Paris is forced to continually relive his supposed victim's final moments.  However, while the previous story focuses mostly on proving Tom's innocence, all of that is beside the point in O'Brien's situation.  Guilty or innocent, for the Chief, the damage is done - just like in the real world.  The difference makes for a far more poignant and compelling tale.

Worth noting: this episode came out only a year-and-a-half after Shawshank Redemption, a film which delves much deeper into the question of what prolonged prison life does to the human psyche.

Acting Notes

via Elm Street Wiki

Craig Wasson played the role of Ee'char, O'Brien's ill-fated cellmate.  Wasson was born in Ontario, Oregon, March 15, 1954.  He graduated from the University of Oregon.  His films include Body Double, Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and Four Friends, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination.  Television credits include The Bob Newhart Show, M*A*S*H and Murder, She Wrote.  He's musically talented, too.  In The Boys in Company C, he wrote and performed "Here I Am (in Vietnam)" which became the movie's theme song.