“It was a dangerous profession I had chosen ... because no one likes a funny kid. In fact, adults are scared silly of them and tend to warn children who act out that they are going to wind up in prison or worse. It is only when you grow up that they pay you vast sums of money to make them laugh.” ChildrenFactsKidsGrowsPayLaughingGrowing UpDangerousHumourWindAdultsPrisonScaredProfessionSillyLikesChosenFunny Kid Book:Leaving home: a memoir Source: Leaving home: a memoir
“What do prisoners do? Write, of course; even if they have to use blood as ink, as the Marquis de Sade did. The reasons they write, the exquisitely frustrating restrictions of their autonomy and the fact that no one listens to their cries, are all the reasons that mentally ill people, and even many normal people write. We write to escape our prisons.” PeopleIfsWritingReasonFactsUseCoursesBloodCryNormalPrisonIllPrisonerAutonomyFrustratingInkRestrictionMentally Ill Author:Alice Weaver Flaherty
“It had long been true, and prisoners knew this better than anyone, that the poorer you were the more likely you were to end up in jail. This was not just because the poor committed more crimes. In fact, they did. The rich did not have to commit crimes to get what they wanted; the laws were on their side. But when the rich did commit crimes, they often were not prosecuted, and if they were they could get out on bail, hire clever lawyers, get better treatment from judges. Somehow, the jails ended up full of poor black people.” PeopleIfsLongEndsFactsWantedLawSidesBlackPoorRichCrimeJudgingPrisonCommittedLawyerCleverCommitGet BetterTreatmentJailPrisonerBlack PeopleBail Book:A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present Source: A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present