Tee Grizzley Quotes

When a young person is sent 'up the river,' we need to remember that all rivers can change course.

I think most people have a general sense that when you're released from prison, life is hard, but, you know, if you work hard and apply self-discipline and stay out of trouble, you can make it. But that's true only for a relative few.

If you speak to anyone who's ever done time, the fact that you make it out of there alive is a miracle.

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.

America is the land of the second chance - and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.

By and large, prisons are survivable, though hope is indeed what you need least upon entering here; a lump of sugar would be more useful.

I went to prison; therefore, I've been rehabilitated, and now I want to get on with my life. I have paid for what I did, end of story.

You have people there from all walks of life: people who made mistakes and have to deal with the consequences, mothers and fathers. You wouldn't expect them to be behind bars.

Prison is where you promise yourself the right to live.

I get a lot of letters from prisoners. They say things you can't imagine.

I've never stabbed, hurt, killed, stolen, anything, but I went to jail for a year. What is that? My pastor said to me the fact that I'm not living under a bridge as a crazy woman, talking to myself, is amazing.

Prison life, fortunately, I spent a lot of years, about 18 years with other prisoners, and, as I say, they enriched your soul.

One of the things about jail that's weird is that you're sent to a place where you're supposed to sit there and think about your actions and their consequences and why you're there. And I think now, it turns more into - the minute you go there, it's just survival.

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.

I know prisons from the inside.

Prison was tough on me. I saw people in prison that made me ashamed I was a human being. Some make Qaddafi and Idi Amin look like Sunday-school teachers.

I get a lot of calls from families and people who have served time and they say, 'Thank you, Sheriff. I hate the tents.' That's music to my ears.

I came out even with all the struggles I endured on Rikers Island.

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.

I went to prison, I paid my bill.

Jail was probably the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me.

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

Jail is much easier on people who have nothing.

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