Prison Quotes by Michelle Alexander

Bill Clinton presided over the largest increase in federal and state prison inmates of any president in American history.

— Michelle Alexander

Prison guard unions have become the powerful political forces in some states, particularly California.

— Michelle Alexander

If everyone charged with crimes suddenly exercised his constitutional rights, there would not be enough judges, lawyers, or prison cells to deal…

— Michelle Alexander

For many, whether they go to prison or not is far less about the choices they make and far more about what…

— Michelle Alexander

There are more African Americans under correctional control, in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850 a…

— Michelle Alexander

I don't think I understood the full extent of the trauma experienced by people who churn through America's prisons until I began…

— Michelle Alexander

Our prison population quintupled in a thirty year period of time. Not doubled or tripled - quintupled. We went from a prison…

— Michelle Alexander

Incarceration rates, especially black incarceration rates, have soared regardless of whether crime is going up or down in any given community or…

— Michelle Alexander

The education justice movement and the prison justice movement have been operating separately in many places as though they're in silos. But…

— Michelle Alexander

What defenders of the system typically fail to acknowledge is that the reason violent offenders comprise a fairly large percentage of the…

— Michelle Alexander

Some prison officials are determined to keep the people they lock in cages as ignorant as possible about the racial, social, and…

— Michelle Alexander

Private prison companies are now listed on the New York Stock exchange and are doing quite well in a time of economic…

— Michelle Alexander

Millions of people are unable to vote due to felony convictions with the highest rates among black men. People in prison are…

— Michelle Alexander

Private landlords as well as public landlords are free to discriminate against people with criminal records for the rest of their lives.…

— Michelle Alexander

If you ask for good schools, you aren't likely to get them. If you ask for jobs or economic investment, you won't…

— Michelle Alexander

The United States does have the highest rate of incarceration in the world dwarfing the rates of even highly repressive regimes like…

— Michelle Alexander

Today there are more African-Americans under correctional control, in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850, a…

— Michelle Alexander

... as recently as the mid-1970s, the most well-respected criminologists were predicting that the prison system would soon fade away. Prison did…

— Michelle Alexander

I think that we need to begin talking about what does it mean to create these safe spaces in our communities, to…

— Michelle Alexander

When young black men reach a certain age - whether or not there is incarceration in their families - they themselves are…

— Michelle Alexander

In a growing number of states, you're actually expected to pay back the costs of your imprisonment. Paying back all these fees,…

— Michelle Alexander

“The percentage of drug arrests that result in prison sentences (rather than dismissal, community service, or probation) has quadrupled, resulting in a…

— Michelle Alexander

We would never throw up our hands and say to those white boys - well, too bad, if you had just stayed…

— Michelle Alexander

Mandatory minimum sentences give no discretion to judges about the amount of time that the person should receive once a guilty verdict…

— Michelle Alexander

“The genius of the current caste system, and what most distinguishes it from its predecessors, is that it appears voluntary. People choose…

— Michelle Alexander

“The extraordinary increase in prison admissions due to parole and probation violations is due almost entirely to the War on Drugs. With…

— Michelle Alexander

“Even beyond private prison companies, a whole range of prison profiteers must be reckoned with if mass incarceration is to be undone,…

— Michelle Alexander

People charged with drug offenses, though, are typically poor people of color. They are routinely charged with felonies and sent to prison.

— Michelle Alexander

What does this system seem designed to do? As I see it, it seems designed to send people right back to prison,…

— Michelle Alexander

Thousands of people go to jail, go to prison, every year without even meeting with an attorney.

— Michelle Alexander

The greatest myth about mass incarceration is that it has been driven by crime and crime rates. It's just not true.

— Michelle Alexander

The war on drugs has been the engine of mass incarceration. Drug convictions alone constituted about two-thirds of the increase in the…

— Michelle Alexander

Now that private prison companies have found that they can make a killing on mass incarceration, these private prison companies are now…

— Michelle Alexander

I think it's critically important for people to understand that this system of mass incarceration governs not just those who find themselves…

— Michelle Alexander

Many offenders are tracked for prison at early ages, labeled as criminals in their teen years, and then shuttled from their decrepit,…

— Michelle Alexander

I have spent years representing victims of racial profiling and police brutality and investigating patterns of drug law enforcement in poor communities…

— Michelle Alexander

For reasons that have stunningly little to do with crime or crime rates, we, as a nation, have chosen to lock up…

— Michelle Alexander

“As a society, our decision to heap shame and contempt upon those who struggle and fail in a system designed to keep…

— Michelle Alexander

“One in three young African American men is currently under the control of the criminal justice system—in prison, in jail, on probation,…

— michelle alexander

About 70% of those released from prison return within a few years, and the majority of those who return in some states…

— Michelle Alexander