“Piper: Is SHU really that bad? Nicky: It's just like the Hamptons, only fucking horrible.”— Jenji Kohan, Nicole 'Nicky' Nichols, Natasha Lyonne, imdb.com
“Nicky: Look at you, blondie. What'd you do? Piper: Aren't you not supposed to ask that question? I read that you're not supposed to ask that. Nicky: You read that? What, you studied for prison?”— Jenji Kohan, Nicole 'Nicky' Nichols, Natasha Lyonne, imdb.com
“Survival in here is all about your alliances.”— Steven Zaillian, Richard Price, Freddy Knight, Michael Kenneth Williams, imdb.com
“You know, you can go through your whole life without a care, and one day it all changes. People die. They lose their homes. They go to prison. It's calamity, huh? I know it, 'cause I lived it. And if this year has taught me anything—and believe me, I've seen it all—it's that the worst does happen. A…”— Noah Hawley, Lester Nygaard, Martin Freeman, imdb.com
“It's hard sometimes, relationships aren't easy. You just have to work at it every day. Can't expect everything to be perfect all the time, and can't get shaken when it isn't. If there's a moment when I feel like I'm in prison, I just have to think about all those moments when it feels safe, and remi…”— Bruce Eric Kaplan, Nate Fisher, Peter Krause, imdb.com
“Prison is for assholes.”— Courtney A. Kemp, Damione Macedon, James 'Ghost' St. Patrick, Omari Hardwick, imdb.com
“Oh, I figured we'd all be better off if you had something to smash when you got home from prison.”— Jonathan Lisco, Barry "Baz" Brown, Scott Speedman, imdb.com
“You do what you want. I ain't going back to prison for your or anybody.”— Jonathan Lisco, David Michod, Andrew "Pope" Cody, Shawn Hatosy, imdb.com
“You did 20 years because you stole half a million dollars from Sully. The only place you were safe was in prison, where you ratted out his whole family.”— Ann Biderman, Ray Donovan, Liev Schreiber, imdb.com
“You know how ya start your mornings in prison? Watching your cellmates take a shit!”— Ron Nyswaner, Mickey Donovan, Jon Voight, imdb.com
“And guys in here go through tremendous struggles inwardly. A lot of them, you know, play the macho role and keep things inside. But I know a lot of guys who cry on their pillow at night.”— David Berkowitz, transcripts.cnn.com
“Yes, there were several times that at the beginning, when I first came to prison, I was very suicidal. And I saw no hope in living. I was disgusted with my life. I was angry at a lot of people. I felt betrayed, confused, and I saw no hope. So there were some times when I did try to commit suicide.”— David Berkowitz, transcripts.cnn.com
“Yes, in 1979, another inmate—I guess to make a name for himself—tried to take my life. And he stuck me when I wasn't looking with a razor and opened up the whole side of my neck. And it was a miracle that I survived. When I went down to the prison infirmary, I walked down there on my own and I didn'…”— David Berkowitz, transcripts.cnn.com
“I do not fear prison, as I do not fear the fury of the miserable tyrant who took the lives of 70 of my comrades. Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me.”— Fidel Castro, marxists.org
“Hey, death row’s great—death row’s a fucking blast. I get cable t.v., I get phone access any time I want, I get to paint, I get all these privileges and nobody fucks with me. On the other hand, the general population [of the prison], that’s for fools and animals. It’s a jungle out there, so you’re a…”— John Wayne Gacy, murderpedia.org
“I live a very dull life here... indeed I think I am more like a state prisoner than anything else.”— Martha Washington, amazon.com
“I was dumped into a cell without any medical attention or surgical attention whatever. My broken bones were not set. My ankles and legs were not put into a cast. The doctor never came near me and no one else was allowed to do anything for me. At the end of 14 months of constant agony, I was taken to…”— Carl Panzram, www-rohan.sdsu.edu
“They stripped us naked and chained us up to a door, and then turned the fire hose on us until we were black and blue and half blind.”— Carl Panzram, www-rohan.sdsu.edu
“I am 36 years old and I have been a criminal all of my life. I have 11 felony convictions against me. I have served 20 years of my life in Jails, Reform Schools and prisons. I know why I am a criminal. Others may have different theories as to my life but I have no theory about it. I know the facts.…”— Carl Panzram, amazon.com
“Mrs. Greenstone, I am 59 years old. I am black and I have lived with and fought racism my entire life. I have been in prison 23 times—serving 28 months in a federal penitentiary and 30 days on a North Carolina chain gang, among other punishments. I have seen periods of progress followed by reaction.…”— Bayard Rustin, huffingtonpost.com