Peter Falk Quotes

Jail is much easier on people who have nothing.

People in general have a preconceived idea of what prison is, from seeing documentaries or whatever.

I went to Rikers one time to do 'Third Watch,' and I remember thinking, 'Wow, this is a scary place.' We were using a section of the prison where half of it was still populated by inmates.

As a prosecutor, I've been in prisons. I've had the opportunity to see what they're like in America.

I tell inmates all the time, 'Don't complain about your grind. Do your time.'

'Lockup,' inside America's supersize prisons on MSNBC, is one of my favorite shows. I get a lot of my inspiration for Blair Waldorf from that show.

It was very cold in jail. But inmates were good. They shared their stories with me.

Prison is where you promise yourself the right to live.

Prison has a universal fascination. It's a real-life horror story because, given the right set of circumstances, anyone could find themselves behind bars.

As soon as I ended up being incarcerated, I said, you know, this is not the life for me.

I didn't spend a lot of time with prison guards, but my father was an assistant district attorney for a long time so I was always hearing stories about prisoners and prison guards.

I grew to manhood in the Ohio State Penitentiary.

When you're in prison, and we're left to our own devices, you're stripped of everything, and you really get to see who these people are, the good and the bad.

I am proud of being in a U.S. federal prison and surviving it.

The second time I went to jail, I was like, 'Okay, this is not the move.'

I was kind of excited about going to jail the first time and I learnt some great dialogue.

I spent my first three weeks there on a wing with 21 murderers. I met some very evil people there but also some men who'd had no upbringing, no chance in life.

People always think about what prison is. What prison really is - it's not a physical challenge, it's mental.

I've worked in the prison system for five years, and most of those folks in prison didn't have a direction.

I've definitely become more aware of the penal system and more aware of what life could be like inside a prison.

As horrible as jail was, there were some first-rate guys in there.

Any politician who wants to eliminate parole just doesn’t understand law enforcement.

The prison is the state writ small.

The United States imprisons many non-violent offenders who could instead be required to pay fines, perform community service, and make restitution to their victims… Maintaining our vast network of prisons consumes resources that could be better spent on education and other crime prevention efforts... Rather than reforming offenders, prison too often degrades and dehumanizes prisoners, making the task of rehabilitation and reentry into society even more difficult.