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Prisoners Quotes

Browse 58 quotes about Prisoners.

Prisoners Quotes

“We couldn't trust them. They couldn't trust us. Mutual attempts at destruction are the only logical result. He thought of human dreams - both Old Empire and new - of contacting some extra-terrestrial intelligence such as nobody had ever truly encountered. Why? Why would we ever want to? We'd never be able to communicate, and even if we could, we'd still be those same two prisoners forced to trust - and risk - or to damn the other in trying to save slightly more of our own hides.”

DreamsTrustCommunicationDestructionLogicIntelligenceSavePrisonersExtraterrestrials
Author:Adrian Tchaikovsky
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“I saw a lot of men die there. Most men. Do you know what killed them?”…”Despair,” said Finney. “They believed themselves to be prisoners. I lived with those men, ate the same maggot-infested food, slept in the same beds, did the same back-breaking work. But they died and I lived. Do you know why?” “You were free.” “I was free. Milton was right…the mind is its own place. I was never a prisoner. Not then, not now.”

DeathDespairBeing FreeMiltonPrisonersMind Is FreeMind Is Its Own PlaceWhat Kills Us
Book:A Rule Against Murder
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“Sometimes your belief system is really your fears attached to rules.”

WisdomPainPastFearGrowthFreedomLearningGrowingPerspectiveListeningAnxietyDiversityExpectationsBraveryPersonal GrowthBoundariesSelf DiscoveryFearlessBarriersAccountabilityControlledOpennessFearfulOwnershipBeliefsIntrospectionRulesOpen MindedFearsDirectionStereotypesBlindedIdealistBelief SystemsBrainwashedWallsOcdStayingpositiveu ComHurtsStaying PositivePrisonersBreaking FreeSelf EvaluationUnrealistic ExpectationsKnowing What You WantFalse BeliefsTaking ControlBlindsightedPerspectives On LifeOpen Minded LifeSelf Esteem 101Beliefs In YourselfSelf Imposed PainVictomizationRoad Blocks
Author:Shannon L. Alder
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“We have glorified wealth and freedom so much that it is impossible for most of us to truly believe that a man can truly be happy in a shack or within the confines of a prison cell.”

BelieveHumorFunnyHappinessSpiritualJoySpiritualityWealthFreedomMoneyRichHumourWorshipGloryJokesHumorousSlaveryPrisonSlaveRichesHappyLiberationSatireMaterialismWealthyJailPrisonerIdolsAphorismConsumerismFreeJokeHilariousJoyousAphorismsIdolatryExaggerationGlorifyContentSlavesAphoristAphoristsShackMaterialPrisonersLiberateJailerPrisonsIdolPrison CellsConfineExaggerateConfinesJailsInflatedInflatePrison CellJailersJailedShacks
Author:Mokokoma Mokhonoana
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“Prisons by Stewart Stafford There are prisons of bars and jailers, There are dungeons of the mind, And of family blackmailers. Some sit manacled in a marriage cell, Thunderous isolation next door, All aflame in loveless hell. Misery, with no parole in poverty's trap, While in privileged ivory towers nearby, Elite confinement in luxury's lap. Inmates break free to a new golden age, Other jailbirds await merciful luck, Destined never to escape the cage. © Stewart Stafford, 2022. All rights reserved.”

PrisonIsolationJailPrisonerTrapsConfinementPrisonersBad MarriagePoverty TrapLap Of Luxury
Author:Stewart Stafford
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“[At Eastham, probably after sexual abuse]: In Barrow's own words to Fults, 'I'd like to shoot all these damned guards and turn everybody loose.' Fults, initially unimpressed by the diminutive Barrow, later noted the change he witnessed. 'I seen him change from a schoolboy to a rattlesnake. He got real bitter.' ... This is echoed by members of the Barrow family who noted a distinct difference in Barrow's personality after his 1932 parole. According to his sister Marie, 'Something awful sure must have happened to him in prison, because he wasn't the same person when he got out.”

PrisonPrisonerGreat Depression1930sPrisonersPrison BreakSexual Abuse SurvivorBonnie And Clyde
Book:My Life with Bonnie and Clyde
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“What is going to happen to the Aurorans?" "They are prisoners of war," Albion said. "I should imagine they will be set to work at the base of the Spire." Grimm tightened his jaw. "No, sir." "No?" "No, sir," Grimm said. "I've seen that place. You might as well tie a noose around their necks and stand them on blocks of ice, if you want them to die a slow death. It will be cleaner." "I'm not sure why this concerns you, Captain," Albion said. "Because they surrendered to me," Grimm said. "They gave me their parole, sir. They could have fought on with no real chance of victory, and it would have been bloody. But that surrender saved blood and lives of Albions and Aurorans alike. I will not see Captain Castillo repaid with such churlish treatment.”

HonorBattleSurrenderPrisonersPows
Book:The Aeronaut's Windlass
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“Political prisoners describe: - extreme physical and emotional torture - distortion of language, truth, meaning and reality - sham killings - begin repeatedly taken to the point of death or threatened with death - being forced to witness abusive acts on others - being forced to make impossible "choices" - boundaries smashed i.e. by the use of forced nakedness, shame, embarrassment - hoaxes, 'set ups', testing and tricks - being forced to hurt others Ritual abuse survivors often describe much the same things.”

TruthPoliticalDeathReligionFaithSecretHealingPsychologyCrimeMurderKillingTricksRecoveryTortureSecretsChild AbuseExploitationPsychology QuotesRapeMind ControlSurvivorsAbusiveRitual AbuseChildhood AbuseSatanic Ritual AbusePrisonersPolitical PrisonersMental Health ProfessionalsSurvivorshipAbuse Sexual AbuseVoluntaryChildabuseChild PornographyAbusive Government
Book:Who Dares Wins
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“People with anxiety and trust issues find themselves drawn to people of consistency because they feel safe with someone who is predictable. However, that doesn’t cure their problem. The anxious person still remains the same because anxiety is a wave that crashes on the shore every time an unpredictable circumstance challenges their expectations and comfort zone.”

LifeFearSupportTrustConfidenceComfortAnxietyConstantProtectionSettlingConsistencyComfort ZoneUnpredictablePredictableAvoidanceNot CaringDreamersTrust IssuesCaring Too MuchPrisonersUnexpected TurnsUnexpected ChangesReliving The PastFalse PeaceFalse Sense Of ComfortFixing The ProblemUnexpected Plots
Author:Shannon L. Alder
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“Bringing this all together, the 1980s become and intensely significant point for the purposes of our understanding of what one could consider the degradation of our prison system and our food system in America: We see at that time period a sharp increase in the rates of diet-related disease, the number of incarcerated people, and the gap between the wealthy and the poor.”

Food HistoryPrisonersPrisonsFood Service
Book:Prison Food in America
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“It’s not the physical things that you’re without that make it so hard to be incarcerated for life. It’s the fact that you’re helpless to take care of your family when they’re sick, to raise your children, to help in their times of struggle, and to give back to your community. Instead you’re a burden, a charity case, someone to pity. It strips you of your self-esteem and your self-respect.”

PrisonersSolitary ConfinementPrison Life
Book:Hell Is a Very Small Place: Voices from Solitary Confinement
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“Roughly halfway across the frozen river, the column of prisoners was halted by a massive snowdrift blocking their path. It proved too dense to break through in a single charge. “Why are you standing there staring? Move! Help the men in front!” a guard barked. The prisoners crowded forward and began clearing the obstacle together, clawing and kicking at the packed snow with desperate urgency. In their haste, they failed to consider that the ice had not yet thickened sufficiently after the previous night’s freeze. Under the concentrated weight of so many bodies in one place, the thin crust of ice suddenly gave way. The entire vanguard plunged into the freezing water. Those following behind recoiled in terror and collided with the prisoners at the rear. As they fell, the ice shattered beneath them as well, and they too were swallowed by the treacherous water. The more fortunate inmates, farther from the gaping hole in the ice, scattered in panic. Frightened guards fired warning shots into the air, shouting frantically to restore order. An instant later, the icy slurry struck Peter’s body like a thousand knives. Screams, splashing water, cracking ice, and frantic bodies thrashing in the racing current merged into a single nightmare of chaos. Several of the men who had fallen into the river could not swim. One was quickly seized by the current and dragged beneath the ice. Others, stricken by panic, clutched at whoever was near them. Peter found himself locked in the iron grip of a terrified Turkmen prisoner who had never in his life seen a body of water large enough to swim in. Together, they began to sink beneath the ice. — Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Three Context note: Set in 1941 during the chaotic early months of World War II, this scene depicts the forced transfer of prisoners within the Soviet Gulag system. As Nazi Germany invaded the USSR, thousands of inmates were marched or transported across vast distances under brutal conditions. Many perished not in battle, but during these desperate evacuations—victims of cold, exhaustion, panic, and the indifference of a repressive state.”

SurvivalHistorical FictionCold WeatherPrisonersGulagWar TimeSoviet HistoryPolitical RepressionLabor CampExtreme Conditions
Book:Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання.: Все буде Голодомор.
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“Going into any prison is deeply confusing if you know anything about the racial demographics of America. The extreme overrepresentation of people of color, the disproportionate sentencing of racial minorities, the targeted prosecution of drug crimes in poor communities, the criminalization of new immigrants and undocumented people, the collateral consequences of voter disenfranchisement, and the barriers to re-entry can only be fully understood through the lens of our racial history.”

JusticeRaceRacismPrisonDemographicsInstitutional RacismPrisonersSentencing
Book:Just Mercy
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“To outsmart you they thought up work squads—but not squads like the ones outside the camps, where everyone is paid his separate wage. Everything was so arranged in the camp that the prisoners egged one another on. It was like this: either you all got a bit extra or you all croaked. You're loafing you bastard—do you think I'm willing to go hungry just because of you? Put your guts into it, slob.”

Soviet UnionStalinismPrisonersGulagPrison CampWork Squad
Book:One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
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“There are three methods of dealing with offenders against society once they are apprehended: retribution, deterrence, and rehabilitation. Prison officials and men generally lay claim more or less to advocating all three. At present the public thinks that offenders should be punished. There are many different reasons why this is so, among them the belief that the average criminal responds to nothing but fear and penalties. Yet there is some real evidence that only through the very opposite of fear and punishment--intelligent good will--can men be reached and challenged and changes brought about.”

PunishmentRehabilitationPrisonersPrisonsJails
Book:Down the Line: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin
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“When a loved one is incarcerated, it's like an atom bomb falls on them, obliterating everything in an instant. Their freedom, their movement, their livelihood, gone. But the bomb's shock waves spread out and envelop close family and friends too. The prison industrial complex eats incarcerated people as the main course but also feasts on their relatives, relationships, and communities. Its appetite is voracious.”

RelationshipsFamiliesIncarcerationPrisonersPrisonsPrison Industrial ComplexJails
Book:Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American
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“And in a nasty war, where's the best place to be? Apart from on the moon, o' course? No one?" Slowly, Jade raised a hand. "Go on, then," said the sergeant. "In the army, sarge," said the troll. "'cos..." She began to count on her fingers. "One, you got weapons an' armour an' dat. Two, you are surrounded by other armed men. Er... Many, youse gettin' paid and gettin' better grub than the people in Civilian Street. Er... Lots, if'n you gives up, you getting taken pris'ner and dere's rules about that like Not Kicking Pris'ners Inna Head and stuff, 'cos if you kick their pris'ners inna head they'll kick your pris'ners inna head so dat's, like, you're kickin' your own head, but dere's no rule say you can't kick enemy civilians inna head. There's other stuff too, but I ran outa numbers.”

WarArmyTrollsPrisonersPrisoners Of War
Book:Monstrous Regiment
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