In a civilized society, all crimes are
In a civilized society, all crimes are likely to be sins, but most sins are not and ought not to be treated as crimes.
I can tell you this on a stack of
I can tell you this on a stack of Bibles: prisons are archaic, brutal, unregenerative, overcrowded hell holes where the inmates are treated like animals with absolutely not one humane thought given to what they are going to do once they are released. You're an animal in a cage and you're treated like one.
A Sunday school is a prison in which
A Sunday school is a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.
Wherever any one is against his will,
Wherever any one is against his will, that is to him a prison.
I was in prison, and you came unto me.
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
Overlook our deeds, since you know that
Overlook our deeds, since you know that crime was absent from our inclination.
Distrust all in whom the impulse to
Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.
Any punishment that does not correct,
Any punishment that does not correct, that can merely rouse rebellion in whoever has to endure it, is a piece of gratuitous infamy which makes those who impose it more guilty in the eyes of humanity, good sense and reason, nay a hundred times more guilty than the victim on whom the punishment is inflicted.
Women now have choices. They can be
Women now have choices. They can be married, not married, have a job, not have a job, be married with children, unmarried with children. Men have the same choice we've always had: work, or prison.
One of the many lessons that one learns
One of the many lessons that one learns in prison is, that things are what they are and will be what they will be.
If punishment reaches not the mind and
If punishment reaches not the mind and makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender.
I am certain that nothing has done so
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.
Faults of the head are punished in this
Faults of the head are punished in this world, those of the heart in another; but as most of our vices are compound, so also is their punishment.
Why would anyone expect him to come out
Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went to prison for three years, not Princeton.
The power of punishment is to silence,
The power of punishment is to silence, not to confute.
The law does not pretend to punish
The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business.
No crime has been without a precedent.
No crime has been without a precedent.
The degree of civilization in a society
The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.
When it comes to freedom, we are but
When it comes to freedom, we are but prisoners of our own desires.
There are dreadful punishments enacted
There are dreadful punishments enacted against thieves; but it were much better to make such good provisions, by which every man might be put in a method how to live, and so to be preserved from the fatal necessity of stealing and dying for it.
Nothing can be more abhorrent to
Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization.
The best situation of all, and one
The best situation of all, and one frequently utilized, is for jails and prisons to allow volunteer ministers of all faiths to enter prisons and offer their services to the inmates who want them. That way, the religious needs of inmates are met but without government funds being spent.
Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners
Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts.
On a planet that increasingly resembles
On a planet that increasingly resembles one huge Maximum Security prison, the only intelligent choice is to plan a jail break.
There is no greater punishment of
There is no greater punishment of wickedness that that it is dissatisfied with itself and its deeds.
