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%.
The common argument that crime is caused
The common argument that crime is caused by poverty is a kind of slander on the poor.
The worst of prison life, he thought,
The worst of prison life, he thought, was not being able to close his door.
Vices are not crimes.
Vices are not crimes.
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.
No crime has been without a precedent.
No crime has been without a precedent.
We have initiated programs for re-entry
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.
The punishment can be remitted; the
The punishment can be remitted; the crime is everlasting.
America is the land of the second chance
America is the land of the second chance – and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.
If two people fight on the street, whose
If two people fight on the street, whose fault is it? Who is the criminal? It is the government’s responsibility because the government has not educated the people to not make mistakes. The people have inadequate, incompetent education, so they make mistakes! It is such a fraud.
A pedestal is as much a prison as any
A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.
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.
Mere factual innocence is no reason not
Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
While crime is punished it yet
While crime is punished it yet increases.
The world is a prison in which solitary
The world is a prison in which solitary confinement is preferable.
Prison continues, on those who are
Prison continues, on those who are entrusted to it, a work begun elsewhere, which the whole of society pursues on each individual through innumerable mechanisms of discipline.
Trial by jury itself, instead of being a
Trial by jury itself, instead of being a security to persons who are accused, shall be a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.
To be at peace in crime! Ah, who can
To be at peace in crime! Ah, who can thus flatter himself.
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.”
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.
Society has used the juvenile courts to
Society has used the juvenile courts to create a caste system where there are throw-away people.
No written law has been more binding
No written law has been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion.
It is better that ten guilty persons
It is better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent suffer.
Adversities such as being homeless and
Adversities such as being homeless and going to prison has made many people stronger.
