Nothing can be more abhorrent to
Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization.
The penalty for laughing in a courtroom
The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the evidence.
Corporal punishment falls far more
Corporal punishment falls far more heavily than most weighty pecuniary penalty.
I never told a victim story about my
I never told a victim story about my imprisonment. Instead, I told a transformation story - about how prison changed my outlook, about how I saw that communication, truth, and trust are at the heart of power.
Prison, dungeons, blessed places where
Prison, dungeons, blessed places where evil is impossible because they are the crossroads of all the evil in the world. One cannot commit evil in hell.
Money will determine whether the accused
Money will determine whether the accused goes to prison or walks out of the courtroom a free man.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
Society prepares the crime; the criminal
Society prepares the crime; the criminal commits it.
Our task must be to free ourselves from
Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
It isn't true that convicts live like
It isn't true that convicts live like animals: animals have more room to move around.
Prison makes you a better judge of
Prison makes you a better judge of character. You pick up on people much faster.
Definition, rationality, and structure
Definition, rationality, and structure are ways of seeing, but they become prisons when they blank out other ways of seeing.
Mere factual innocence is no reason not
Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached.
Show me the prison, Show me the jail,
Show me the prison, Show me the jail, Show me the prisoner whose life has gone stale. And I'll show you a young man with so many reasons why And there, but for fortune, go you or I.
The power of punishment is to silence,
The power of punishment is to silence, not to confute.
If punishment reaches not the mind and
If punishment reaches not the mind and makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender.
Kill a man, and you are an assassin.
Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a God.
So justice while she winks at crimes,
So justice while she winks at crimes, Stumbles on innocence sometimes.
I was in prison, and you came unto me.
I was in prison, and you came unto me. Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
~(Jesus Christ) Matthew 25:36, 40
I never saw a man who looked With such a
I never saw a man who looked With such a wistful eye Upon that little tent of blue Which prisoners call the sky.
The law does not pretend to punish
The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business.
One man meets an infamous punishment for
One man meets an infamous punishment for that crime which confers a diadem upon another.
The public have more interest in the
The public have more interest in the punishment of an injury than he who receives it.
Law is merely the expression of the will
Law is merely the expression of the will of the strongest for the time being, and therefore laws have no fixity, but shift from generation to generation.
To make punishments efficacious, two
To make punishments efficacious, two things are necessary. They must never be disproportioned to the offence, and they must be certain.
