Quotes

Trial by jury itself, instead of being a security to persons who are accused, shall be a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.

A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards, as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push.

Fast closed with double grills
And triple gates – the cell
To wicked souls is hell;
But to a mind that's innocent
'Tis only iron, wood and stone.

Hanging was the worst use a man could be put to.

Society prepares the crime; the criminal commits it.

The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.

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%.

Steal goods and you’ll go to prison, steal lands and you are a king.

I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

A man who has no excuse for a crime, is indeed defenseless!

Hard cases, it is said, make bad law.

I wrote a million words in the first year, and I could never have done that outside of prison.

Justice renders to every one his due.

By noiselessly going to a prison a civil-resister ensures a calm atmosphere.

He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.

We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.

Self is the only prison that can bind the soul.

Clemency alone makes us equal to the gods.

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

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.

Money will determine whether the accused goes to prison or walks out of the courtroom a free man.

How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong.

It becomes not a law-maker to be a law-breaker.

I have been studying how I may compare This prison where I live unto the world; And, for because the world is populous, And here is not a creature but myself, I cannot do it. Yet I'll hammer it out.

Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts.