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625b856
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I am convinced that imprisonment is a way of pretending to solve the problem of crime. It does nothing for the victims of crime, but perpetuates the idea of retribution, thus maintaining the endless cycle of violence in our culture. It is a cruel and useless substitute for the elimination of those conditions--poverty, unemployment, homelessness, desperation, racism, greed--which are at the root of most punished crime. The crimes of the rich and powerful go mostly unpunished. It must surely be a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit that even a small number of those men and women in the hell of the prison system survive it and hold on to their humanity.
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racism
poverty
greed
criminal-justice-system
cycle-of-violence
imprisonment
retribution
homelessness
unemployment
jail
incarceration
punishment
justice
prison
desperation
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Howard Zinn |
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aedfb27
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I understand now that the only time black people don't feel guilty is when we've actually done something wrong, because that relieves us of the cognitive dissonance of being black and innocent, and in a way the prospect of going to jail becomes a relief.
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blacks
jail
justice-system
race-relations
incarceration
innocence
justice
prison
guilt
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Paul Beatty |
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dc025d9
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All these institutions [prisons] seemed purposely invented for the production of depravity and vice, condensed to such a degree that no other conditions could produce it, and for the spreading of this condensed depravity and vice broadcast among the whole population.
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prison-camps
prisons
incarceration
vice
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Leo Tolstoy |
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31c3aa5
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The prison inspector and the warders, though they had never understood or gone into the meaning of these dogmas and of all that went on in church, believed that they must believe, because the higher authorities and the Tsar himself believed in it. Besides, though faintly (and themselves unable to explain why), they felt that this faith defended their cruel occupations. If this faith did not exist it would have been more difficult, perhaps impossible, for them to use all their powers to torment people, as they were now doing, with a quiet conscience. The inspector was such a kind-hearted man that he could not have lived as he was now living unsupported by his faith.
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faith
incarceration
human-nature
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Leo Tolstoy |
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51412bb
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Joe closed his hand over the watch and it was still warm from his father's pocket, ticking against his palm like a heart.
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sadness
incarceration
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Dennis Lehane |
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c28d2b5
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Ojiugo often asked, 'But are they treating you well? Are they treating you well?' as though the treatment was what mattered, rather than the blighted reality of it all, that he was in a holding center, about to be deported. Nobody behaved normally. They were all under the spell of his misfortune.
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incarceration
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie |