The worst prison is not of stone. It is
The worst prison is not of stone. It is of a throbbing heart, outraged by an infamous life.
There is a point at which even justice
There is a point at which even justice does injury.
One crime has to be concealed by
One crime has to be concealed by another.
It is hard, but it is excellent, to find
It is hard, but it is excellent, to find the right knowledge of when correction is necessary and when grace doth most avail.
To my mind, to kill in war is not a whit
To my mind, to kill in war is not a whit better than to commit ordinary murder.
The thoughts of a prisoner - they're not
The thoughts of a prisoner - they're not free either. They keep returning to the same things.
Reality becomes a prison to those who
Reality becomes a prison to those who can’t get out of it.
Prison makes you a better judge of
Prison makes you a better judge of character. You pick up on people much faster.
No man should be judge in his own case.
No man should be judge in his own case.
Every crime has, in the moment of its
Every crime has, in the moment of its perpetration, Its own avenging angel--dark misgiving, An ominous sinking at the inmost heart.
We don't seem to be able to check crime,
We don't seem to be able to check crime, so why not legalize it and then tax it out of business.
The common argument that crime is caused
The common argument that crime is caused by poverty is a kind of slander on the poor.
There is no peace because the making of
There is no peace because the making of peace is at least as costly as the making of war - at least as exigent, at least as disruptive, at least as liable to bring disgrace and prison and death in its wake.
On average, drug prisoners spend more
On average, drug prisoners spend more time in federal prison than rapists, who often get out on early release because of the overcrowding in prison caused by the Drug War.
Extreme justice is extreme injustice.
Extreme justice is extreme injustice.
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap - people shouldn't read that stuff.
Man is condemned to be free.
Man is condemned to be free.
When you are younger you get blamed for
When you are younger you get blamed for crimes you never committed and when you're older you begin to get credit for virtues you never possessed. It evens itself out.
It is more dangerous that even a guilty
It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.
The contagion of crime is like that of
The contagion of crime is like that of the plague. Criminals collected together corrupt each other; they are worse than ever when at the termination of their punishment they re-enter society.
He had drawn many a thousand of these
He had drawn many a thousand of these rations in prisons and camps, and though he'd never had an opportunity to weight them on scales, and although, being a man of timid nature, he knew no way of standing up for his rights, he, like every other prisoner, had discovered long ago that honest weight was never to be found in the bread-cutting. There was short weight in every ration. The only point was how short. So every day you took a look to soothe your soul - today, maybe, they haven't snitched any.
The object of punishment is prevention
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
I have paid no poll-tax for six years. I
I have paid no poll-tax for six years. I was put into a jail once on this account, for one night; and, as I stood considering the walls of solid stone, I could not help being struck with the foolishness of that institution which treated me as if I were mere flesh and blood and bones, to be locked up...I saw that, if there was a wall of stone between me and my townsmen, there was a still more difficult one to climb or break through, before they could get to be as free as I was. I did not for a moment feel confined, and the walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar.
One man meets an infamous punishment for
One man meets an infamous punishment for that crime which confers a diadem upon another.
What restrains us from killing is partly
What restrains us from killing is partly fear of punishment, partly moral scruple, and partly what may be described as a sense of humor.