Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.
I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the juridical safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice.
I never told a victim story about my imprisonment. Instead, I told a transformation story - about how prison changed my outlook, about how I saw that communication, truth, and trust are at the heart of power.
We don't seem to be able to check crime, so why not legalize it and then tax it out of business.
When is conduct a crime, and when is a crime not a crime? When Somebody Up There -- a monarch, a dictator, a Pope, a legislator -- so decrees.
The punishment can be remitted; the crime is everlasting.
Body is a home, a prison and a grave.
What restrains us from killing is partly fear of punishment, partly moral scruple, and partly what may be described as a sense of humor.
To trial bring her stolen charms, and let her prison be my arms.
Do not lay on the multitude the blame that is due to a few.
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.
Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release.
They're not supposed to show prison films in prison. Especially ones that are about escaping.
Clemency alone makes us equal to the gods.
Self is the only prison that can bind the soul.
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.
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
It is certain that the study of human psychology, if it were undertaken exclusively in prisons, would also lead to misrepresentation and absurd generalizations.
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.
I sometimes wish that people would put a little more emphasis upon the observance of the law than they do upon its enforcement.
In the halls of justice, the only justice is in the halls.
Well does Heaven have care that no man secures happiness by crime.
I just remember that disturbing feeling of walking into that prison, the complete loss of privacy, the complete loss of stimulation, dignity.
The worst of prison life, he thought, was not being able to close his door.
It is hard, but it is excellent, to find the right knowledge of when correction is necessary and when grace doth most avail.
