Something was dead in each of us,
And what was dead was Hope. ibid.
I enjoyed every single moment of my life in the prison. Salvador Dali
My time in prison brought me confidence, optimism and a belief that nothing could ever shake me again. Adolf Hitler
People are often unable to do anything, imprisoned as they are in I don’t know what kind of terrible, terrible, oh such terrible cage. Vincent van Gogh, letter to brother Theo
Do you know what makes the prison disappear? Every deep, genuine affection. Being friends, being brothers, loving, that is what opens the prison, with supreme power, by some magic force. Without these one stays dead. But whenever affection is revived, there life revives. Vincent van Gogh, letter to brother Theo
What is a ship but a prison? Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy
Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent quiet take
That for an hermitage.
If I have freedom in my love,
And in my soul a free;
Angels alone, that soar above,
Enjoy such liberty. Richard Lovelace, ‘To Althea, From Prison’, 1649
In chains and darkness, wherefore should I stay,
And mourn in prison, while I keep the key? Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Verses on Self-Murder, cited The London Magazine 1749
Dazzled thus with height of place,
Whilst out hopes our wits beguile,
No man marks the narrow space
’Twixt a prison and a smile. Henry Wotton, 1651
Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect £200. Monopoly ‘community chest’ card
Labour’s policy in the prisons has been even worse. All the Fabian pamphlets about the necessity of penal reform were torn up as soon as Lord Mountbatten wrote his report on prison security following the rash of highly-publicised prison escapes in 1965. Mountbatten’s recommendations were followed to the letter. Many of the smaller privileges and comforts so much looked forward to in prisons were instantly abolished. Instead were introduced the horrors of the maximum security wings and increased pounding by warders. The Parole Board, presided over by the ubiquitous Lord Hunt (who has failed to solve so many of Labour’s problems from Biafra to the B Specials) is a fraud and a farce. Under Labour, even more than previously, the prisons have been regarded as institutions for turning recidivists into vegetables and vice versa. Paul Foot, article April 1970, ‘Law and Order’
In the United States, the most privatised capitalised country in the world, it should come as no surprise that it also has the largest prison system in the world. Growing every year. Statistically, most of these people are uneducated and come from poor, deprived societies. And, contrary to propaganda, it is this environmental conditioning which lures them into violent and criminal behaviour. However, society looks the other way ... Billions are spent each year on prisons and police, while only a fraction is spent on programs for poverty ... As long as we have an economic system that prefers, indeed creates, scarcity and deprivation, crime will never go away. Zeitgeist, 2007
America now imprisons more people than any country on the face of the Earth. Alex Jones, Martial Law 9/11: The Rise of the Police State
Miami, Florida, is home to one of the largest jails in America. Tens of thousands of people arrested every year in the county come here to live. They stay for a day or sometimes years while they await trial. Since they have not yet been convicted the inmates of jails unlike prisons are technically innocent. Louis Theroux: Miami Mega Jail I, BBC 2011
I’ve been spending several weeks in Miami in one of the largest jails in America. Unlike prisons, jails are for inmates who are pre-trial and technically innocent, but the environment if anything can be even more brutal. Louis Theroux: Miami Mega Jail II
‘I’ll always be like a slimeball person. Like I’ll always be loathsome.’ ibid. inmate interview
Just outside San Francisco stands one of America’s oldest and most notorious prisons: San Quentin. It’s famous for its Death Row. Its main purpose is to house a transient population of nearly 3,000 murderers, sexual predators and small-time criminals. Louis Theroux: Behind Bars, BBC 2008
For new arrivals at the prison their first port of call is Receiving & Release. San Quentin is a clearing house for prisoners from all over northern California. ibid.
‘We got people who prey on weakness.’ ibid. screw
‘First I’ve got to do 521 years then 11 life sentences.’ ibid. inmate
The prison industry and the courts system – it is the most profitable corporation in this country. The courts system and the prison system generates more money than ten of the largest Fortune Finance 500 companies in this country. Walter Burien, interview Alex Jones, Comprehensive Annual Finance Reports Exposed
Tony Blair’s most expensive legacy will have been to turn over the entire country into a perfect prison. Taking Liberties, 2007
Long before Alcatraz there was Devil’s Island. And it’s still the most notorious prison of them all. For a hundred years it was a brutal penal colony where thousands of men went to die. They call it the perfect prison because escape was impossible. Or was it? Legend says that a handful of men did manage to escape. Could it really be done? Mystery Investigator: Olly Steeds: Devil Island, Discovery 2010
The House just passed President Bush’s Bill to redefine the treatment of detainees and the Senate is expected to do the same thing tomorrow. Buried deep inside this legislation is a provision that will pardon President Bush and all the members of his administration of any possible crimes connected with the torture and mistreatment of detainees dated all the way back to September 11th 2001. CNN News Report
Despite being a US citizen Jose Padilla has been held indefinitely in a Naval brig in North Carolina. He has never been charged. And hasn’t seen a lawyer. CNN News
The Post Office, Little Sutton, Ellesmere, Port Merseyside, 1973: Charles Bronson, Britain’s most violent man. Thirty-six years in prison. Two hundred acts of violence in four years. Thirty-two years in solitary confinement, serial hostage taker, inmate of virtually every prison in Britain. The Real Bronson, CI 2010
When he was eight years old Michael Peterson was accidentally hit on the head by his mother in a domestic accident. ibid.
Michael Peterson had enjoyed a happy childhood but his adolescence had been increasingly clouded by delinquency, self-harm and criminal damage. ibid.
We’ve got lads here that are twenty years old on their fifth sentence. Her Majesty’s Prison: Aylesbury I, ITV 2013
Aylesbury Prison in Buckinghamshire is home to some of the most dangerous criminals in Britain: rapists, murderers, gangsters and paedophiles are housed here. What’s frightening is that the oldest prisoners are just 21. ibid.
Gang rivalries mean that scores are constantly being settled. ibid.
In 2012, 35 members of staff were assaulted at Aylesbury. Her Majesty’s Prison: Aylesbury II
Those who are considered suicide risks are carefully monitored. ibid.
‘He’s hell-bent on killing himself; he seems to enjoy cutting himself.’ ibid. screw
There are 2.3 million people locked up in the United States. Around half for non-violent crimes. These inmates are costing states billions they cannot afford. Frontline: Prison State, PBS 2014
‘Incarceration has become the response to every social problem we encounter.’ ibid. Commissioner Hasan Davis, KY department of juvenile justice
Rockville Correctional Facility and Indiana Women’s Prison house over 1,800 offenders; many are serving long sentences for extremely violent crimes. Women Behind Bars with Trevor McDonald I, ITV 2013
America imprisons more women than anywhere else in the world. ibid.
The authorities were bruised by Sarah Pender’s escape. ibid.
‘I didn’t have any feelings at all about it.’ Women Behind Bars with Trevor McDonald II, gun-crime prisoner
The tedium of the unimaginable sameness of long days possess difficulties for even the toughest offenders. ibid.
Prisoners talk endlessly about the years of family life that they have missed. ibid.
Linda’s Darby: In 1972 she escaped from prison. She went on the run for more than thirty years and in that time managed to create an entirely new life. ibid.
About an hour’s drive south of Chicago in the state of Indiana is one of America’s oldest and most notorious maximum security prisons. The majority of the 1,900 inmates here are serving long sentences for unspeakable crimes. 12 are due to be executed on the orders of the state. Inside Death Row with Trevor McDonald I, ITV 2014
Ronald L Sandford: ‘I came here in 1989 at the age of 15 years old: I was actually convicted of the crime that I’m here for at the age of 13 years old: double homicide … I was sentenced to 170 years.’ ibid.