Quotes

Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.

They were being driven to a prison, through no fault of their own, in all probability for life. In comparison, how much easier it would be to walk to the gallows than to this tomb of living horrors!

Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a God.

While crime is punished it yet increases.

Society has used the juvenile courts to create a caste system where there are throw-away people.

Punishment, that is the justice for the unjust.

To try to raise a son from inside the prison walls is a very difficult thing. But I want to say to the world my son at 16 was the one who tried the most to get me out of prison.
~Jim Bakker

Liberty is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude.

Oh who is that young sinner with the handcuffs on his wrist? And what has he been after that they groan and shake their fists? And wherefore is he wearing such a conscience-stricken air? Oh they're taking him to prison for the colour of his hair.

In prison, you get the chance to see who really loves you.

When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat. When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

The worst of prison life, he thought, was not being able to close his door.

The public have more interest in the punishment of an injury than he who receives it.

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.

You stuff somebody into the American dream, and it becomes a prison.

Fear can be like a prison. It is, however, a self made prison. Many are imprisoned by fear. No one else can liberate them from this prison. Others may inspire them but they must liberate themselves.

The thoughts of a prisoner - they're not free either. They keep returning to the same things.

Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached.

Written laws are like spiders' webs, and will, like them, only entangle and hold the poor and weak, while the rich and powerful will easily break through them.

Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.

Those magistrates who can prevent crime, and do not, in effect encourage it.

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.

Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

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