I know not whether laws be right, or
I know not whether laws be right, or whether laws be wrong; All that we know who lie in gaol is that the wall is strong; And that each day is like a year, a year whose days are long.
He who opens a school door, closes a
He who opens a school door, closes a prison.
Let us remember that justice must be
Let us remember that justice must be observed even to the lowest.
The reformative effect of punishment is
The reformative effect of punishment is a belief that dies hard, chiefly I think, because it is so satisfying to our sadistic impulses.
I know how men in exile feed on dreams
I know how men in exile feed on dreams of hope.
The severest justice may not always be
The severest justice may not always be the best policy.
Two men look out the same prison bars;
Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars.
The mellow sweetness of pumpkin pie off
The mellow sweetness of pumpkin pie off a prison spoon is something you will never forget.
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.
It was only when I lay there on the
It was only when I lay there on the rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not between states nor between social classes nor between political parties, but right through every human heart, through all human hearts. And that is why I turn back to the years of my imprisonment and say, sometimes to the astonishment of those about me, bless you, prison, for having been a part of my life.
You stuff somebody into the American
You stuff somebody into the American dream, and it becomes a prison.
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.
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.
Extreme justice is extreme injustice.
Extreme justice is extreme injustice.
Probably the only place where a man can
Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release.
I don't like jail, they got the wrong
I don't like jail, they got the wrong kind of bars in there.
If we were brought to trial for the
If we were brought to trial for the crimes we have committed against ourselves, few would escape the gallows.
The object of punishment is prevention
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
There are few better measures of the
There are few better measures of the concern a society has for its individual members and its own well being than the way it handles criminals.
We're in a war. People who blast some
We're in a war. People who blast some pot on a casual basis are guilty of treason.
Society has used the juvenile courts to
Society has used the juvenile courts to create a caste system where there are throw-away people.
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.
Women now have choices. They can be
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.
Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners
Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts.
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.
