Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison1951

[last lines]

Narrator - Personification of Folsom Prison:
There you have a story from my notorious past. Today the picture is an entirely different one. Through the years that followed, my board of directors gave me modern new buildings to house my growing population. But what is more important, they gave me a change of heart, administrators who were merciful as well as just. Today, under the direction of an enlightened penologist, my guards are chosen by competitive examination, and without political interference. My walls are still impregnable, but the prisoners inside them are treated as individuals, for what they are and for what ails them. I am still overcrowded, There is still the evil of two men in a cell. But that will be corrected by legislation. In my prison hospital, you will find every modern appliance, every expert medical care. To correct a man's thinking, you must keep his body fit. And by the same token you must occupy his mind. Here, where eleven million license plates were turned out this year, inmates are paid a nominal wage, and are given a chance to gain their self-respect. I can't keep all the men you send to me. The great majority will one day be sent out on parole. Their care, their rehabilitation is your problem as well as mine. You can't lock them up and forget them. Sooner or later one them may be your next-door neighbor. If they send you to me now, I'll be just; I'll be humane. But don't get me wrong. I'm no pushover. You will still find that there is no substitute for freedom.