Quotes

Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars.

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.

The English laws punish vice; the Chinese laws do more, they reward virtue.

When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat. When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went to prison for three years, not Princeton.

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 perfection of a thing consists in its essence; there are perfect criminals, as there are men of perfect probity.

Care should be taken that the punishment does not exceed the guilt; and also that some men do not suffer for offenses for which others are not even indicted.

I am an expert of electricity. My father occupied the chair of applied electricity at the state prison.

Justice is justice though it's always delayed and finally done only by mistake.

When you are younger you get blamed for crimes you never committed and when you're older you begin to get credit for virtues you never possessed. It evens itself out.

We have initiated programs for re-entry offenders, since some 500,000 to 600,000 offenders will come out of prison each year for the next three or four years. We want to have positive alternatives when they come back to the community.

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.

Adversities such as being homeless and going to prison has made many people stronger.

What is crime amongst the multitude, is only vice among the few.

Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release.

Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices - just recognize them.

On a planet that increasingly resembles one huge Maximum Security prison, the only intelligent choice is to plan a jail break.

So justice while she winks at crimes, Stumbles on innocence sometimes.

To my mind, to kill in war is not a whit better than to commit ordinary murder.

In jail a man has no personality. He is a minor disposal problem and a few entries on reports. Nobody cares who loves or hates him, what he looks like, what he did with his life. Nobody reacts to him unless he gives trouble. Nobody abuses him. All that is asked of him is that he go quietly to the right cell and remain quiet when he gets there. There is nothing to fight against, nothing to be mad at. The jailers are quiet men without animosity or sadism.

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.

I existed in a world that never is - the prison of the mind.

Wicked deeds are generally done, even with impunity, for the mere desire of occupation.

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.