"To try to raise a son from inside the prison walls is a very difficult thing. But I want to say to the world, my son at 16 was the one who tried the most to get me out of prison"
About this Quote
Then comes the emotional reversal: the son, not the father, becomes the agent. At 16, “the one who tried the most” reads like praise, but it’s also a strategic transfer of credibility. Teenagers are culturally coded as unfiltered, loyal, even innocent; by casting his son as the most determined advocate, Bakker borrows that moral sheen. The subtext is: if a child fought for me, you should question the story you were told about me.
It also sidesteps the uncomfortable reality of why Bakker was there in the first place. The quote doesn’t deny wrongdoing; it reframes the narrative around devotion, suffering, and redemption - familiar beats in evangelical celebrity culture, where public collapse can be repackaged as testimony. Addressing “the world” signals performance, not intimacy: this is a father speaking to an audience, using filial love as evidence. The son’s effort becomes an argument for the father’s worthiness, and the prison sentence becomes a stage for sympathy rather than accountability.
Quote Details
| Topic | Son |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Bakker, Jim. (2026, February 17). To try to raise a son from inside the prison walls is a very difficult thing. But I want to say to the world, my son at 16 was the one who tried the most to get me out of prison. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/to-try-to-raise-a-son-from-inside-the-prison-113273/
Chicago Style
Bakker, Jim. "To try to raise a son from inside the prison walls is a very difficult thing. But I want to say to the world, my son at 16 was the one who tried the most to get me out of prison." FixQuotes. February 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/to-try-to-raise-a-son-from-inside-the-prison-113273/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"To try to raise a son from inside the prison walls is a very difficult thing. But I want to say to the world, my son at 16 was the one who tried the most to get me out of prison." FixQuotes, 17 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/to-try-to-raise-a-son-from-inside-the-prison-113273/. Accessed 23 Feb. 2026.
