Jia Kenmin

Jia Kenmin
First appearance	"Cuts Like a Knife" (episode 4.12)
Last appearance	"Good Intentions" (episode 5.07)
Reason/Cause	Murdered by Corrections Officers
Details
Prisoner No.	01J813
Aliases	None
Gender	Male
Age	30 (Deceased)
Date of Conviction	February 2, 2001
Date of Death	February 12, 2002
Affiliations	Li Chen
Spouse	Unspecified
Relatives	Unnamed Father Unnamed Mother
Kill Count	0
Episode Count	8 Episodes
Portrayed by	Michael Delmare

"Your brother's going to die. They're going to fry his white ass and I'm going to be sitting in the front row laughing my balls off. You fucking Mick."

―Jia Kenmin

Jia Kenmin (Chinese: 贾肯敏) was an Asian inmate featured in Oz. He was Ryan O'Reily's main antagonist in Season 5. Portrayed by Michael Delmare.

Character Summary

"Prisoner number 01J813, Jia Kenmin. Convicted February 2, 2001 - Possession and distribution of a controlled substance. Sentence: 15 years, up for parole in 5."

―The Narrator

A Chinese Triad gangster, he is imprisoned for drug trafficking. He is clever and a skilled fighter, who usually defeated any prisoner who attempted to challenge him in a one-on-one fight.

He starts off on a somewhat noble route, trying to redeem himself and regain his honour by avenging the death of Chinese refugee, Bian Yixhue, by killing his murderer, Enrique Morales. However, his intentions become diluted and he eventually becomes the primary enemy of Ryan O'Reily.

In challenging O'Reily, he never realizes his original goal to kill Morales and never regains his honour as he is murdered by corrections officers who were manipulated by O'Reily into killing him. He does however exact revenge on O'Reily's brother, Cyril, with a scheme which ends with Cyril being placed on death row and eventually executed.

Plot Summary

Season 4

Jia meeting with refugee Wong Gongjin.

Kenmin arrives and is immediately isolated from some Asian refugees being held in Oz. He arranged a ship to take them over from China where they lived in horrid conditions paying an extorted amount of money to take the ride to America. In the meantime, one of the refugees Bian Yixhue is killed by the Latinos who are looking to set up the Homeboy's leader Burr Redding. One of the refugees, Wong Gongjin, then asks to see Kenmin briefly before the deportation back to China where he states that Kenmin has been deceitful but can regain his honor avenging the death of Yixhue killing Latino leader Enrique Morales.

Kenmin then assists Redding in a plot to eliminate the Italians and Latinos going into the gymnasium with the Homeboys ready to murder off their enemies. The S.O.R.T. team breaks it up though but Kenmin does let the Latinos know he is after them as Oz is locked down. After the Lockdown is ended, Kenmin is placed in the cage for fighting with Morales and Guerra upon his release. Kenmin then later provokes the O'Reily brothers into a fight, a move that has Cyril O'Reily put Kenmin into a coma. Kenmin then is in the hospital for the duration of the season.

Season 5

Jia going over his revenge plot with Li Chen.

As Kenmin is released from the hospital, he spends his time angering the Latinos and plotting for revenge against O'Reily. With new inmate Li Chen, he makes it look like he has offered the O'Reily brothers peace as a means of setting them up. Kenmin then pays Glen Shupe to lie to Ryan O'Reily about the two of them planning to rape Suzanne Fitzgerald, Ryan's mother and an assistant at Oz. O'Reily then starts a fight with the two that ends with Chen being stabbed to death by Cyril. Unit manager Tim McManus then has Cyril charged with murder and Ryan then realizes that Kenmin made him believe the rape threat as a means of legally eliminating the O'Reily brothers.

Ryan then plots for revenge and sees the hate that Enrique Morales has for Jia. The Irish then make a deal with the Latinos, Jia Kenmin will die without the traceback coming to Morales while Glen Shupe will be horribly injured without the traceback coming to O'Reily. Shupe's arm is then severed and O'Reily fills his end of the bargain by provoking a fight against Kenmin. In the fight, Kenmin with his martial arts skills is clearly winning but as the COs have trouble restraining Kenmin, O'Reily picks up a baton that has fallen on the floor and strikes Kenmin in the back of the head. Because Kenmin assaulted a CO, he is thrown in solitary without medical attention, which worries Dr. Nathan because of his previous head injury. He was then killed by the COs, led by Robinson on the suggestion of O'Reily. His death was confirmed by Father Meehan while confronting Ryan, but CO Robinson wasn't punished.

Appearances

Season 4, Part II

• Cuts Like a Knife
• Blizzard of '01
• Orpheus Descending

Season 5

• Dream a Little Dream of Me
• Next Stop, Valhalla
• Wheel of Fortune
• Variety
• Good Intentions (Death)

Kill Count

Proxy

• Li Chen: Killed by Cyril O'Reily. Arranged for him to kill Ryan and Cyril but backfired. (2002)

Indirect

• Cyril O'Reily: Executed by electrocution due to him killing Li Chen and Jia falsely testifying against him. (2003)

Gallery

Jia Kenmin as seen in his crime flashback.

Jia's mugshot.

Jia with the Homeboys in the gym as they prepare to attack the Italians and the Latinos.

Jia in the cage.

Jia after being knocked unconscious by Cyril O'Reily.

Jia returning to Oswald after recovering from his injuries.

Jia "making peace" with Ryan and Cyril O'Reily.

Jia petting Miguel Alvarez's dog.

Jia (left) and Li's (right) Triad tattoos.

The End of Jia Kenmin.

Trivia

• Jia and Li probably belong to the same Triad family as they share the same Triad tattoo on their left hand.

The Others
Tobias Beecher - Chris Keller - Bob Rebadow - Agamemnon Busmalis - Augustus Hill - Omar White - Nikolai Stanislofsky - Yuri Kosygin - Jia Kenmin - Li Chen - Donald Groves - Edward Galson - Ronald Poklewaldt - Glen Shupe - Stanley Bukowski - Ralph Galino - Lemuel Idzik - Guillaume Tarrant - Bruno Goergen - Adam Guenzel - Alexander Vogel - Greg Penders