Quotes

To seek the redress of grievances by going to law, is like sheep running for shelter to a bramble bush.

He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.

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.

Care should be taken that the punishment does not exceed the guilt; and also that some men do not suffer for offenses for which others are not even indicted.

Prison continues, on those who are entrusted to it, a work begun elsewhere, which the whole of society pursues on each individual through innumerable mechanisms of discipline.

There are only two places in the world where time takes precedence over the job to be done. School and prison.

He was a first-time nonviolent possible offender, ... And under the mandatory minimums, he was put in prison for 15 years. Not only does the punishment not fit the crime, but the mandatory minimums don't give judges any discretion to look at the background of the case, to read into the specifics of the case. I don't know a judge who really is in favor of the mandatory minimums.

The perfection of a thing consists in its essence; there are perfect criminals, as there are men of perfect probity.

Let us remember that justice must be observed even to the lowest.

What restrains us from killing is partly fear of punishment, partly moral scruple, and partly what may be described as a sense of humor.

Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release.

Self is the only prison that can bind the soul.

One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.

No obligation to justice does force a man to be cruel, or to use the sharpest sentence.

History is full of people who went to prison or were burned at the stake for proclaiming their ideas. Society has always defended itself.

We're in a war. People who blast some pot on a casual basis are guilty of treason.

If punishment reaches not the mind and makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender.

Shyness is the prison of the heart.

The number of laws is constantly growing in all countries and, owing to this, what is called crime is very often not a crime at all, for it contains no element of violence or harm.

To make punishments efficacious, two things are necessary. They must never be disproportioned to the offence, and they must be certain.

When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap - people shouldn't read that stuff.

Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars.

Women now have choices. They can be married, not married, have a job, not have a job, be married with children, unmarried with children. Men have the same choice we've always had: work, or prison.

The refined punishments of the spiritual mode are usually much more indecent and dangerous than a good smack.