ANTHONY RAY HINTON

Death Row is the same every day - breakfast at 3 A.M., lunch at 10 A.M., dinner at 3 P.M.

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.'

My mom was my mother and father. My father lost his mind when I was about 4 years old. And my mom did everything she could to make sure that we was brought up right.

The last time I saw my mom was in 1997. My mom started getting sick, and my mom finally passed away in 2002. My mom was my world. My mom was everything to me. We didn't have money. We didn't have a whole lot of materialistic things, but one thing I can truly say, that my mother loved me and all of her children unconditionally.

I just didn't believe the God that I served would allow me to die for something I didn't do.

To me, America need to clean up their own home before they tell another country about human rights. I'm a primary example. America don't care nothing about human rights.

I've seen hate at its worse. What would it profit me to hate?

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.

A white man of authority don't ever want to admit to someone of colour they was wrong.

To stay sane, I lived in my head, where I could travel and imagine. In my mind, I played a championship game with the Knicks. I won Wimbledon five times. If the Yankees needed a home run, I came to bat.

There was a time I thought I'd never see the sun again.

They took my 30s, my 40s, my 50s, but what they couldn't take was my joy. I couldn't do nothing about the years, but I could control my joy... I kept a smile on my face; I kept love in my heart.

What kind of system do we have when innocent people can sit on death row for 30 years?

I went to Paris, I went to France, I went to England, I went to Ireland. In my mind, I can go wherever I wanted to go. I left death row every day.

Being able to control your mind is a beautiful thing.

I have no respect for the prosecutors, the judges. And I say that not with malice in my heart. I say it because they took 30 years from me.

I was born with a mother who loved me unconditionally and with a sense of humor.

You get to know everyone on death row. You become friends with them and their families. I met some great guys. Everyone regrets what they did.

I hope that America will do away with the death penalty. I truly believe we are better than that.

My only crime was being born black - or being born black in Alabama.

I often say that if I had one wish in this world, I would wish that every child could have a mother the way my mother were. And I never went without clothes, I never went without food... I never went without anything that a child needs. But above all of that, she gave me unconditional love.

Bitterness kills the soul.

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?'

I want people to realize that we can teach hate, but we also can teach love.

I believe in laughter. I believe laughter is good for the soul. I believe in making other people laugh to make them feel good.