Over the past three decades, the number of prison inmates in the United States has increased by more than 600%, leaving it the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world. During this time incarceration has changed from a punishment reserved primarily for the most heinous offenders to a much greater range of crimes and a much larger segment of the population. Devah Pager, The Mark of a Criminal Record March 2014, The American Journal of Sociology 108 pp 937-975
In durance vile here must I wake and weep,
And all my frowsy couch in sorrow steep. Robert Burns, Epistle from Esopus to Maria, Chambers’ Burns’ Life and Work IV
Prison’d in a parlour snug and small,
Like bottled wasps upon a southern wall. William Cowper, Retirement
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap – people shouldn’t read that stuff. Mike Tyson
When it comes to the point where you occasionally look forward to being in prison on the basis that you might be able to spend a day reading a book, the realization dawns that perhaps the situation has become a little more stressful than you would like. Julian Assange
Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release. Germaine Greer
Holloway Prison is a very old place, and it has the disadvantages of old places which have never known enough air and sunshine. It reeks with the odours of generations of bad ventilation, and it contrives to be at once the stuffiest and the draughtiest building I have ever been in. Emmeline Pankhurst
And why do we, who say we oppose tyranny and demand freedom of speech, allow people to go to prison and be vilified, and magazines to be closed down on the spot, for suggesting another version of history. David Icke
The difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion is the thickness of a prison wall. Denis Healey
We shall fight against them, throw them in prisons and destroy them. Vladimir Putin
Winny the Willy Grater. Rab C Nesbitt s6e2: Wild, spoof Broadmoor patient, BBC 1997
Howard’s book on penal reform was published in 1777. And Clarkson’s essay on slavery in 1776. Kenneth Clark, Civilisation 13/13: Heroic Materialism, BBC 1969
Capital punishment kills immediately, whereas lifetime imprisonment does so slowly. Which executioner is more humane? The one who kills you in a few minutes, or the one who wrests your life from you in the course of many years? Anton Chekhov
Willy, the jails are full of fearless characters. Death of a Salesman 1985 ***** starring Dustin Hoffman & John Meldovich & Stephen Lang & Kate Reid & Charles Durning & Louis Zorich et al, director playwright Arthur Miller, Charley
Isn’t it good how prison brings people together? The Royle Family Christmas Special: The New Sofa, Barbara, BBC 1999
Tywin Lannister: Why are these prisoners not in their cells?
Gregor Clegane: Cells are overflowing, my Lord. Game of Thrones s2e4: Garden of Bones, HBO 2012
The Conditions in Newgate Jail were so bad that one in ten prisoners died there. But Habeas Corpus was waiting to strike again. The Strange Case of the Law II: The Story of English Justice: The Pursuit of Liberty BBC 2012
I always knew it. I knew I’d end up in the nick. It was my nightmare. Rumpole of the Bailey s3e2: Rumpole and the Golden Thread, Rumpole taken by rozzers, ITV 1983
Every woman wants the wedding of her dream. Every bride wants the perfect day. What happens when your dream is on prison lockdown? Every year over two million couples tie the knot across the United States. Married Behind Bars, Channel 4 2015
The service will last roughly five minutes ... They will not be allowed to touch. The whole ceremony will be behind bulletproof glass. ibid.
Nelson Mandela. Thirty years in captivity ... It also shows you that prison works. The Office Values – Microsoft UK Training with David Brent, Youtube 2007
I wouldn’t last in jail, Oscar. I’m not like you ... You would love jail. The Office US s6e6: Mafia, Kevin, NBC 2009
For one month we filmed in the sex offenders’ unit of a juvenile prison. Kid Criminals I, Channel 4 2015
Places the emphasis on treatment not reoffending. ibid.
Just one of five different wings that house over 160 juveniles. ibid.
In America kids are locked up seven times higher than the UK. Most are in prison for repeated minor offences. A quarter are here for violent crime including armed robbery and murder. Kid Criminals II
99% of juveniles in Indiana are serving indeterminate sentences, and are released when they complete their programs. But there are exceptions to the rule. ibid.
In America 80,000 prisoners are locked up in solitary confinement. They spend months, sometimes years, alone. This film goes inside the punishment wing of a maximum security prison. Life in Solitary: This World, BBC 2014
This is the story of one man’s effort to reform a super-max prison ... In the state of Maine, on America’s north-east coast is a maximum security prison – it’s home to the worst prisoners in the state. ibid.
They hold America’s most dangerous criminals. Prisons so undercover, so controversial, and so dangerous, that the details of how they operate must be kept locked up tight ... America’s secret prisons. America’s Book of Secrets s3e6: Secret Prisons, History 2014
Was the ‘kids for cash’ scandal an isolated incident or was it just the tip of the iceberg? ibid.
But the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.
The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper. Genesis 39:21-23
Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners. Psalms 146:7
And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. Acts 16:23-26
In which he also went and preached to the spirits in prison. I Peter 3:19
Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison. Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience and Other Essays
These two men were the ringleaders behind Britain’s most notorious and violent prison riot. 25 years ago nearly 2,000 inmates broke out of their cells and took over Strangeways Prison in Manchester. Strangeways: Britain’s Toughest Prison Riot, BBC 2015
Cameras had already captured the brutal conditions inside the prison. ibid.
In upstate New York two convicted killers pull off the surprise of the century ... and sparks a massive man-hunt. Who are these killers? How did they pull off such an audacious escape? Prison Break: Killers on the Run, ID 2015
Emerging from a manhole cover a block outside the prison walls. ibid.
Three weeks after their escape, Richard Matt was shot dead by police. David Sweat was shot and captured two days later. ibid.
The thing that worries me most about the private sector’s prisons is frankly that because obviously they are trying to make a profit, they’ve got to decide where the can afford to cut corners. And the corners they cut are usually to do with staffing, and staffing numbers. Lord Ramsbotham, Chief Inspector of Prisons 1995-2001
No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned ... A man in a jail has more room, better food and commonly better company. Samuel Johnson