America is the land of the second chance – and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.
It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.
When it comes to freedom, we are but prisoners of our own desires.
Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.
What restrains us from killing is partly fear of punishment, partly moral scruple, and partly what may be described as a sense of humor.
Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X came out of prison stronger.
The reformative effect of punishment is a belief that dies hard, chiefly I think, because it is so satisfying to our sadistic impulses.
We're in a war. People who blast some pot on a casual basis are guilty of treason.
One crime has to be concealed by another.
It is impossible to go through life without trust: That is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself.
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 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.
If we were brought to trial for the crimes we have committed against ourselves, few would escape the gallows.
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
Wherever any one is against his will, that is to him a prison.
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.
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.
A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards, as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push.
Most people fancy themselves innocent of those crimes of which they cannot be convicted.
I have never been contained except I made the prison.
The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the evidence.
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.
Clemency alone makes us equal to the gods.
To be in prison so long, it's difficult to remember exactly what you did to get there.
