Tim Mc Manus - Season 1

Season 1

Tim McManus is given complete control of Cell Block 5, nicknamed "Emerald City" or "Em City", by the state's prison commissioner. While in charge of Em City, he selects various potentially redeemable inmates to fill his population. McManus' college education and his apparent inexperience with handling prisoners puts him at odds with some of Oz's staff, who believe him to be naive. McManus' first task as unit manager is to stop drug trafficking in Em City, which McManus believes can be stopped by organizing more rehab classes and less shakedowns on the cell block.

Throughout the season, Governor James Devlin passes several laws denying inmates basic rights, such as smoking privileges and conjugal visits. McManus predicts that Devlin's draconian measures will lead to a prison riot within Oz. To prevent this, McManus monitors Kareem Said, a black nationalist inmate who plans to lead Oz's African-American prisoners in a takeover of the prison. Additionally, McManus keeps watch of a volatile feud between Em City's black and Italian-American prison gangs. After a feud-related murder causes the FBI to investigate Oz, McManus and the prison's warden, Leo Glynn, warn the gangs to end their conflict.

McManus steps up his offense against the drug trade by transferring all of the Italian gang members except their leader, Nino Schibetta, out of Em City. Said claims that Em City's corrections officers are also involved in drug trafficking; Mike Healy, a guard who opposes McManus, is caught dealing to Irish-American prisoner Ryan O'Reily. Meanwhile, McManus begins a sexual relationship with Diane Whittlesey, Em City's supervising corrections officer. The relationship concerns Glynn and invites ridicule from the inmates.

Later when inmate Donald Groves makes an attempt on Glynn's life, he accidentally kills guard Lawrence Smith and receives the death penalty. Several guards retaliate by brutalizing Em City's inmates. McManus and Oz's chief physician, Gloria Nathan, encounter opposition from Oz's administration when they attempt to have the guards fired; Glynn resolves this by temporarily suspending the guards without pay. McManus orders a shakedown that finds almost every prisoner in Em City is armed. McManus takes away their privileges for two months as punishment, adding to the tension within Oz.

McManus' fears are realized when Em City's inmates, led by Said, erupt in rioting and hold several corrections officers hostage, including Whittlesey. McManus tries to resolve the riot through negotiation, and agrees to venture into Em City with food for the prisoners in exchange for checking on the hostages. The inmates send out a list of demands for ending the riot, most of which McManus and Warden Glynn find agreeable. However, Devlin orders a SWAT team to recapture Em City with force. The team cuts power to Oz and violently retakes the cell block, resulting in the deaths of two inmates and six guards.