If it's near dinner-time, the foreman
If it's near dinner-time, the foreman takes out his watch when the jury has retired, and says: "Dear me, gentlemen, ten minutes to five, I declare! I dine at five, gentlemen." "So do I," says everybody else, except two men who ought to have dined at three and seem more than half disposed to stand out in consequence. The foreman smiles, and puts up his watch:--"Well, gentlemen, what do we say, plaintiff or defendant, gentlemen?
The only real prison is fear, and the
The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.
The guilt of enforced crimes lies on
The guilt of enforced crimes lies on those who impose them.
Experts and the educated elite have
Experts and the educated elite have replaced what worked with what sounded good. Society was far more civilized before they took over our schools, prisons, welfare programs, police departments and courts. It's high time we ran these people out of our lives and went back to common sense.
It is certain that the study of human
It is certain that the study of human psychology, if it were undertaken exclusively in prisons, would also lead to misrepresentation and absurd generalizations.
Distrust all in whom the impulse to
Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.
I have never been contained except I
I have never been contained except I made the prison.
I sometimes wish that people would put a
I sometimes wish that people would put a little more emphasis upon the observance of the law than they do upon its enforcement.
Mere factual innocence is no reason not
Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached.
Three hundred years ago a prisoner
Three hundred years ago a prisoner condemned to the Tower of London carved on the wall of his cell this sentiment to keep up his spirits during his long imprisonment: “It is not adversity that kills, but the impatience with which we bear adversity.”
A pedestal is as much a prison as any
A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.
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%.
History is full of people who went to
History is full of people who went to prison or were burned at the stake for proclaiming their ideas. Society has always defended itself.
Clemency alone makes us equal to the
Clemency alone makes us equal to the gods.
I have paid no poll-tax for six years. I
I have paid no poll-tax for six years. I was put into a jail once on this account, for one night; and, as I stood considering the walls of solid stone, I could not help being struck with the foolishness of that institution which treated me as if I were mere flesh and blood and bones, to be locked up...I saw that, if there was a wall of stone between me and my townsmen, there was a still more difficult one to climb or break through, before they could get to be as free as I was. I did not for a moment feel confined, and the walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar.
A man who has no excuse for a crime, is
A man who has no excuse for a crime, is indeed defenseless!
We who live in prison, and in whose
We who live in prison, and in whose lives there is no event but sorrow, have to measure time by throbs of pain, and the record of bitter moments.
The power of punishment is to silence,
The power of punishment is to silence, not to confute.
How dreadful it is when the right judge
How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong.
So justice while she winks at crimes,
So justice while she winks at crimes, Stumbles on innocence sometimes.
They were being driven to a prison,
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!
The English laws punish vice; the
The English laws punish vice; the Chinese laws do more, they reward virtue.
Liberty is rendered even more precious
Liberty is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude.
I don't like being famous - it is like a
I don't like being famous - it is like a prison. And driving for Ferrari would make it far worse.
The severest justice may not always be
The severest justice may not always be the best policy.
