Clemency alone makes us equal to the
Clemency alone makes us equal to the gods.
Hanging was the worst use a man could be put to.
Most people fancy themselves innocent of
There are only two places in the world
There are only two places in the world where time takes precedence over the job to be done. School and prison.
Vices are not crimes.
Crimes lead one into another; they who
Crimes lead one into another; they who are capable of being forgers are capable of being incendiaries.
No obligation to justice does force a
No obligation to justice does force a man to be cruel, or to use the sharpest sentence.
I asked a man in prison once how he
I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told him if he had stolen a railroad he would be a United States Senator.
You utter a vow, or forge a signature,
You utter a vow, or forge a signature, and you may find yourself bound for life to a monastery, a woman, or prison.
Women have worked hard; starved in
Women have worked hard; starved in prison; given of their time and lives that we might sit in the House of Commons and take part in the legislating of this country.
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.
One man meets an infamous punishment for
One man meets an infamous punishment for that crime which confers a diadem upon another.
A pedestal is as much a prison as any
A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.
Liberty is rendered even more precious
Liberty is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude.
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.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
I sometimes wish that people would put a
I sometimes wish that people would put a little more emphasis upon the observance of the law than they do upon its enforcement.
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 degree of civilization in a society
The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.
Crimes lead one into another; they who are capable of being forgers are capable of being incendiaries.
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.
In prisons, those things withheld from
In prisons, those things withheld from and denied to the prisoner become precisely what he wants most of all.
The virtue of justice consists in
The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.
Prison, dungeons, blessed places where
Prison, dungeons, blessed places where evil is impossible because they are the crossroads of all the evil in the world. One cannot commit evil in hell.
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.”
