No man survives when freedom fails. The
No man survives when freedom fails. The best men rot in filthy jails, and those who cry 'appease, appease' are hanged by those they tried to please.
Crime is a logical extension of the sort
Crime is a logical extension of the sort of behavior that often [is] considered perfectly respectable in legitimate business.
Prison makes you a better judge of
Prison makes you a better judge of character. You pick up on people much faster.
It is the spirit and not the form of law
It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.
It is more dangerous that even a guilty
It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.
One crime is everything; two nothing.
One crime is everything; two nothing.
Those magistrates who can prevent crime,
Those magistrates who can prevent crime, and do not, in effect encourage it.
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.
It is the deed that teaches, not the
It is the deed that teaches, not the name we give it. Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their own kind.
The law does not pretend to punish
The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business.
He was a first-time nonviolent possible
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.
Distrust all in whom the impulse to
Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.
The number of laws is constantly growing
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.
If punishment reaches not the mind and
If punishment reaches not the mind and makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender.
Most people fancy themselves innocent of
Federal prison, if you get any of it,
Federal prison, if you get any of it, you're going to have to do 85% of it. And the reason why I called it that is because I had a friend who got sent to the federal joint and his whole... it wasn't about him being in jail. He cried about the 85%.
Hanging was the worst use a man could be
Hanging was the worst use a man could be put to.
In my country we go to prison first and
In my country we go to prison first and then become President.
Trial by jury itself, instead of being a
Trial by jury itself, instead of being a security to persons who are accused, shall be a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.
Two men look out the same prison bars;
Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars.
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.
He who opens a school door, closes a
He who opens a school door, closes a prison.
Prison continues, on those who are
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.
You utter a vow, or forge a signature,
You utter a vow, or forge a signature, and you may find yourself bound for life to a monastery, a woman, or prison.
I know how men in exile feed on dreams
I know how men in exile feed on dreams of hope.
