Free Cyntoia Quotes

“When somebody says something you don’t like, you don’t have to respond. You know why? Because your value comes from the Lord, not what anybody else thinks.”
― Cyntoia Brown-Long, Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System

“The sad fact is, America’s prisons are filled with men and women who deserve a second chance. They’ve owned up to their crimes and did exactly what they’re supposed to do in prison—they rehabilitated themselves. They understand what I learned, that you can have a meaningful life right there in prison. And many of them will never step outside the prison walls.”
― Cyntoia Brown-Long, Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System

“In the months that followed, I’d learn that forgiveness doesn’t mean someone needs to be part of your life. Forgiveness doesn’t mean welcoming someone in with open arms, regardless of the fact that they continue to hurt you. I’ll never have that picture-perfect relationship with my birth mother. But now I’m no longer defined by anger. Her actions don’t control me. I choose to walk in God’s grace and let go. 23 ASKING FOR MERCY After weeks of nonstop”
― Cyntoia Brown-Long, Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System

“Trafficking can be just one guy tricking one girl into selling her body.”
― Cyntoia Brown-Long, Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System

“The federal law I was handed flat-out stated that anyone under eighteen who was engaged in commercial sex was being trafficked, period.”
― Cyntoia Brown-Long, Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System

“The real solution to our problems is learning to live in community with one another, I thought—and realizing our actions affect other people.”
― Cyntoia Brown-Long, Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System

“realized how truly messed up the system was. Don’t we want people to feel remorse, to swallow their pride and reach out to the person they hurt? There’s no room for reconciliation in the criminal justice system, not the way it’s set up today. I never got to apologize to my victim’s mother. She would die before I had”
― Cyntoia Brown-Long, Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System

“In my experience, prosecutors were pretty much the devil incarnate. They didn’t bother to get to know you or find out what circumstances led you to commit the crime. They defined you by the worst mistake you ever made and refused to entertain any narrative that might not fit that mold.”
― Cyntoia Brown-Long, Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System

“Miss Seabrooks looked deep into my eyes, as if she were speaking words she’d just received from heaven. “I believe God isn’t going to let you out of this prison until you come to him,” she said. “Once you return to him, he will set you free.” I”
― Cyntoia Brown-Long, Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System

“I had no idea how trapped I felt in my lies until I experienced the freedom of being myself with Kut.”
― Cyntoia Brown-Long, Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System

“..forgiveness doesn't mean someone needs to be part of your life. Forgiveness doesn't mean welcoming someone in with open arms, regardless of the fact that they continue to hurt you.”
― Cyntoia Brown-Long, Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System