A biography for Anthony Ray Hintonhasn’t been written yet.
“Being on death row has taken so much from me as a human being.”
“Believe me, when you're sitting on death row, you want the appeal process to take time; as long as you're going through it, you're going to be alive.”
“For 14 years, I could not find volunteer lawyers capable of providing the legal assistance I needed to prove my innocence.”
“I have too much to live for to allow a bunch of cowards to take my joy. I refuse to give them my joy.”
“It's hard to explain exactly what it feels like to be judged. There's a shame to it. Even when you know you're innocent. It still feels like you are coated in something dirty and evil.”
“I believe in laughter. I believe laughter is good for the soul. I believe in making other people laugh to make them feel good.”
“What kind of system do we have when innocent people can sit on death row for 30 years?”
“When you're poor and black in America, you stand a greater chance of going to prison for something you didn't do.”
“Bitterness kills the soul.”
“I want you to know there is a God. He sits high, but he looks low. He will destroy, but yet he will defend - and he defended me.”
“I loved to read books in the free world, and there was a lot of time to sit around and do nothing in prison. When you read, it opens up your mind; it helped us take our minds away from where we were.”
“I was born with a mother who loved me unconditionally and with a sense of humor.”
“I witnessed other inmates' time run out, and I'd be lying if I said you don't ask yourself, 'Wow, is that going to happen to me?'”
“For 30 years, I lived in pure hell.”
“I forgive because not to forgive would only hurt me.”
“When every court was saying 'no,' I believe God was still saying yes. I had to somehow find that faith and reach deep down in my soul and believe in the teaching that my mother taught me as a young boy, that God can do everything but fail.”
“I am a joyful person.”
“When I went to prison, for three years I didn't say a word to another human being until, going into the fourth year, when I realized, 'You know what, I have to find a way to live.'”
“Death row prisoners face enormous challenges in finding lawyers who will assist them.”
“You never think of your freedom until it's taken away from you, and once it's taken... So, it means everything to me. You couldn't put a price tag on it.”