Alcatraz from Inside Quotes

“Executing Sam was equivalent to killing a mentally ill child who strikes a parent in the process of a temper tantrum. His death by execution was a travesty of justice and should be viewed as such.”
― Jim Quillen, Inside Alcatraz: The bestselling true story of life inside America's most notorious prison

“Our federal penal system should have tried to help Sam during the earlier years, when it was obvious to officials as well as inmates that this man was, day by day and year by year, losing all control over his emotions and mental faculties. Instead, he was ignored, isolated, and left to deteriorate into a state where he was unaccountable for and unable to control his behavior.”
― Jim Quillen, Inside Alcatraz: The bestselling true story of life inside America's most notorious prison

“Alcatraz was the epitome of hate, violence, anger, and loneliness; with these conditions, it is small wonder that some men could not continue to hold their lives, or the lives of others, in high esteem. The longer the sentence and the more the degradation, the more the feeling Why do I continue to exist? became part of one’s every thought.”
― Jim Quillen, Inside Alcatraz: The bestselling true story of life inside America's most notorious prison

“Each day, we saw the outside world in all its splendor, and each day that view served as a reminder that we had wasted and ruined our lives.”
― Jim Quillen, Inside Alcatraz: The bestselling true story of life inside America's most notorious prison

“While it is true this prison housed violent men, many of whom had killed during the commission of their crimes, they were still human beings—a fact that seemed to be forgotten once incarcerated at Alcatraz. Also a fact: not all of the violent and vicious men found at Alcatraz wore numbers. Some wore uniforms and were protected by laws, society, and the wall of secrecy that surrounded that grim prison.”
― Jim Quillen, Inside Alcatraz: The bestselling true story of life inside America's most notorious prison

“Alcatraz was designed and built to be a maximum-security and minimum-privilege facility. In reality it went far beyond this and became a prison where the sole purpose was to degrade, deprive, humiliate, and break the inmates physically, mentally, and spiritually, if possible. In many, many cases, it was remarkably successful.”
― Jim Quillen, Inside Alcatraz: The bestselling true story of life inside America's most notorious prison

“Crime is easy to get into, but it can be very difficult to change one’s direction once those first few steps have been taken.”
― Jim Quillen, Inside Alcatraz: The bestselling true story of life inside America's most notorious prison

“The roads to crime and self-destruction are easy to locate in the journey of life, but once embarked upon, very difficult to abandon.”
― Jim Quillen, Inside Alcatraz: The bestselling true story of life inside America's most notorious prison

“The purpose of prison is to incarcerate the criminal, not to brutalize him physically, mentally, and spiritually until death is preferable to any existence in such a prison.”
― Jim Quillen, Inside Alcatraz: The bestselling true story of life inside America's most notorious prison

“A system was created at Alcatraz that allowed some officials to have too much power and political influence. It also allowed the privilege of too much secrecy in determining how the men lived, survived, or died. Alcatraz was a law unto itself and it should be with shame that our federal prison system looks at this prison, rather than holding it in high esteem and considering it a success. I realize the above statements reflect a feeling of hostility and bitterness. But to my knowledge, this is the first time the truth, from an inmate’s point of view, is being written. As one of the few inmates of that era still alive, I somehow feel pressure on behalf of my fellows to reveal the true story concerning the attempted break: why it happened, and the three-day nightmare of the federal prison system and its bureaucrats trying to murder twenty-six inmates, including me.”
― Jim Quillen, Inside Alcatraz: The bestselling true story of life inside America's most notorious prison