The guilt of enforced crimes lies on
The guilt of enforced crimes lies on those who impose them.
The common argument that crime is caused
The common argument that crime is caused by poverty is a kind of slander on the poor.
Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule
Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.
The worst of prison life, he thought,
The worst of prison life, he thought, was not being able to close his door.
In jail a man has no personality. He is
In jail a man has no personality. He is a minor disposal problem and a few entries on reports. Nobody cares who loves or hates him, what he looks like, what he did with his life. Nobody reacts to him unless he gives trouble. Nobody abuses him. All that is asked of him is that he go quietly to the right cell and remain quiet when he gets there. There is nothing to fight against, nothing to be mad at. The jailers are quiet men without animosity or sadism.
The virtue of justice consists in
The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.
To be in prison so long, it's difficult
To be in prison so long, it's difficult to remember exactly what you did to get there.
Any punishment that does not correct,
Any punishment that does not correct, that can merely rouse rebellion in whoever has to endure it, is a piece of gratuitous infamy which makes those who impose it more guilty in the eyes of humanity, good sense and reason, nay a hundred times more guilty than the victim on whom the punishment is inflicted.
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, Can be retentive to the strength of spirit; But life, being weary of these worldly bars, Never lacks power to dismiss itself.
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 of the many lessons that one learns
One of the many lessons that one learns in prison is, that things are what they are and will be what they will be.
I asked a man in prison once how he
I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told him if he had stolen a railroad he would be a United States Senator.
When is conduct a crime, and when is a
When is conduct a crime, and when is a crime not a crime? When Somebody Up There -- a monarch, a dictator, a Pope, a legislator -- so decrees.
It is true you cannot eat freedom and
It is true you cannot eat freedom and you cannot power machinery with democracy. But then neither can political prisoners turn on the light in the cells of a dictatorship.
Wicked deeds are generally done, even
Wicked deeds are generally done, even with impunity, for the mere desire of occupation.
We are prisoners of ideas.
We are prisoners of ideas.
Civilization is maintained by a very few
Civilization is maintained by a very few people in a small number of places and we need only some bombs and a few prisons to blot it out altogether.
Mere factual innocence is no reason not
Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached.
If we look at Houston, which is a very
If we look at Houston, which is a very environmentally toxic place, we find that it has one of the highest levels of young men going to prison and also among the highest levels of illiteracy in the country.
They're not supposed to show prison
They're not supposed to show prison films in prison. Especially ones that are about escaping.
I submit that an individual who breaks a
I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.
Vices are not crimes.
Vices are not crimes.
Educate your children to self-control,
Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future lives and crimes to society.
The refined punishments of the spiritual
The refined punishments of the spiritual mode are usually much more indecent and dangerous than a good smack.
The world itself is but a large prison,
The world itself is but a large prison, out of which some are daily led to execution.
