"The price I have personally paid for these extra Sisyphean years has been prohibitive"

Caryl Chessman's quote talks to the problem of his life and the individual cost he has actually spent for the additional years he has been forced to withstand. The term "Sisyphean" describes the Greek misconception of Sisyphus, who was condemned to an eternity of rolling a boulder up a hill, just to have it roll back down once again. In this way, Chessman is comparing his life to Sisyphus, recommending that he has been forced to withstand an apparently limitless cycle of difficulty and suffering. The expression "excessive price" indicates that the expense of these additional years has actually been undue for him to bear. This quote talks to the tragedy of Chessman's life and the injustice of his situation. It is a pointer of the power of the criminal justice system and the destructive impacts it can have on the lives of those it touches.