The common argument that crime is caused
The common argument that crime is caused by poverty is a kind of slander on the poor.
If we were brought to trial for the
If we were brought to trial for the crimes we have committed against ourselves, few would escape the gallows.
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.
He who opens a school door, closes a
He who opens a school door, closes a prison.
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten
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.
You stuff somebody into the American
You stuff somebody into the American dream, and it becomes a prison.
I existed in a world that never is - the
I existed in a world that never is - the prison of the mind.
The world is a prison in which solitary
The world is a prison in which solitary confinement is preferable.
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.
A man who has no excuse for a crime, is
A man who has no excuse for a crime, is indeed defenseless!
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.
While crime is punished it yet
While crime is punished it yet increases.
The thoughts of a prisoner - they're not
The thoughts of a prisoner - they're not free either. They keep returning to the same things.
The worst prison is not of stone. It is
The worst prison is not of stone. It is of a throbbing heart, outraged by an infamous life.
Educate your children to self-control,
Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future lives and crimes to society.
As we grow in wisdom, we pardon more
As we grow in wisdom, we pardon more freely.
It isn't true that convicts live like
It isn't true that convicts live like animals: animals have more room to move around.
It is not at the table, but in prison,
It is not at the table, but in prison, that you learn who your true friends are.
The punishment can be remitted; the
The punishment can be remitted; the crime is everlasting.
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.
What restrains us from killing is partly
What restrains us from killing is partly fear of punishment, partly moral scruple, and partly what may be described as a sense of humor.
I wrote a million words in the first
I wrote a million words in the first year, and I could never have done that outside of prison.
Show me the prison, Show me the jail,
Show me the prison, Show me the jail, Show me the prisoner whose life has gone stale. And I'll show you a young man with so many reasons why And there, but for fortune, go you or I.
Kill a man, and you are an assassin.
Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a God.
Probably the only place where a man can
Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release.
