No man survives when freedom fails. The best men rot in filthy jails, and those who cry 'appease, appease' are hanged by those they tried to please.
Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.
The public have more interest in the punishment of an injury than he who receives it.
No written law has been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion.
If punishment reaches not the mind and makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender.
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.
In a civilized society, all crimes are likely to be sins, but most sins are not and ought not to be treated as crimes.
And while God had work for Paul, he found him friends both in court and prison. Let persecutors send saints to prison, God can provide a keeper for their turn.
If we look at Houston, which is a very environmentally toxic place, we find that it has one of the highest levels of young men going to prison and also among the highest levels of illiteracy in the country.
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.
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.
There are few better measures of the concern a society has for its individual members and its own well being than the way it handles criminals.
Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.
One crime has to be concealed by another.
When it comes to freedom, we are but prisoners of our own desires.
He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.
Clemency alone makes us equal to the gods.
Crimes lead one into another; they who are capable of being forgers are capable of being incendiaries.
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.
I never saw a man who looked With such a wistful eye Upon that little tent of blue Which prisoners call the sky.
The reformative effect of punishment is a belief that dies hard, chiefly I think, because it is so satisfying to our sadistic impulses.
I have never been contained except I made the prison.
Man is condemned to be free.
Justice renders to every one his due.
