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 world itself is but a large prison,
The world itself is but a large prison, out of which some are daily led to execution.
Wherever any one is against his will,
Wherever any one is against his will, that is to him a prison.
Fast closed with double grills
Fast closed with double grills
And triple gates – the cell
To wicked souls is hell;
But to a mind that's innocent
'Tis only iron, wood and stone.
Crimes lead one into another; they who
Crimes lead one into another; they who are capable of being forgers are capable of being incendiaries.
In prisons, those things withheld from
In prisons, those things withheld from and denied to the prisoner become precisely what he wants most of all.
Some laws of state aimed at curbing
Some laws of state aimed at curbing crime are even more criminal.
The object of punishment is prevention
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
Forgiveness, that noblest of all
Forgiveness, that noblest of all self-denial, is a virtue which he alone who can practise in himself can willingly believe in another.
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.
One should respect public opinion
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.
The world is a prison in which solitary
The world is a prison in which solitary confinement is preferable.
When it comes to freedom, we are but
When it comes to freedom, we are but prisoners of our own desires.
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 can tell you this on a stack of
I can tell you this on a stack of Bibles: prisons are archaic, brutal, unregenerative, overcrowded hell holes where the inmates are treated like animals with absolutely not one humane thought given to what they are going to do once they are released. You're an animal in a cage and you're treated like one.
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.
A variety in punishment is of utility,
A variety in punishment is of utility, as well as a proportion.
Assassination is the extreme form of
Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.
The most anxious man in a prison is the
The most anxious man in a prison is the governor.
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.
The object of punishment is prevention
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
The public have more interest in the
The public have more interest in the punishment of an injury than he who receives it.
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.
To trial bring her stolen charms, and
To trial bring her stolen charms, and let her prison be my arms.
There's no greater threat to our
There's no greater threat to our independence, to our cherished freedoms and personal liberties than the continual, relentless injection of these insidious poisons into our system. We must decide whether we cherish independence from drugs, without which there is no freedom.
