Words from Dic(tionary)

Alcatraz: (n) a rocky island in San Francisco Bay, California. It was the site of a top-security federal prison between 1934 and 1963 and since 1972 has been administered by the National Park Service.

Some people swear by it.

It’s good. Don’t get me wrong.

Clam chowder in a bread bowl in San Francisco is delicious. I can’t say it’s the best I’ve ever had. I like mine a little sweeter and not quite so fishy. But still, it’s hard to beat.

I remember eating a bowl of the concoction while staring across the water at a federal prison called Alcatraz, thinking it was the perfect location for such an institution.

In the Good Book, hell is described as a place where there is a great gulf affixed between it and Paradise. Couldn’t be crossed. Yet all of those people who were suffering the punishment were able to stare over and see what they were missing.

Yes. That’s what prison should be.

The greatest rehabilitation is the chance to come to yourself, realizing what you did and peering out a window–at what you’ve lost.

All places of punishment should be located on islands separated from the mainland of humanity, reminding the perpetrators of the departure of freedom, but also, the potential of crossing back over … to be of worth.