He who opens a school door, closes a
He who opens a school door, closes a prison.
It is better that ten guilty persons
It is better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent suffer.
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.
It becomes not a law-maker to be a
It becomes not a law-maker to be a law-breaker.
The punishment can be remitted; the
The punishment can be remitted; the crime is everlasting.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
I wrote a million words in the first
I wrote a million words in the first year, and I could never have done that outside of prison.
When is conduct a crime, and when is a
When is conduct a crime, and when is a crime not a crime? When Somebody Up There -- a monarch, a dictator, a Pope, a legislator -- so decrees.
I can tell you this on a stack of
I can tell you this on a stack of Bibles: prisons are archaic, brutal, unregenerative, overcrowded hell holes where the inmates are treated like animals with absolutely not one humane thought given to what they are going to do once they are released. You're an animal in a cage and you're treated like one.
Those magistrates who can prevent crime,
Those magistrates who can prevent crime, and do not, in effect encourage it.
Hard cases, it is said, make bad law.
Hard cases, it is said, make bad law.
Overlook our deeds, since you know that
Overlook our deeds, since you know that crime was absent from our inclination.
They're not supposed to show prison
They're not supposed to show prison films in prison. Especially ones that are about escaping.
The object of punishment is prevention
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
The guilt of enforced crimes lies on
The guilt of enforced crimes lies on those who impose them.
It is the spirit and not the form of law
It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.
Two men look out the same prison bars;
Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars.
Most people fancy themselves innocent of
A man who has no excuse for a crime, is
A man who has no excuse for a crime, is indeed defenseless!
Intellectual despair results in neither
Intellectual despair results in neither weakness nor dreams, but in violence. It is only a matter of knowing how to give vent to one's rage; whether one only wants to wander like madmen around prisons, or whether one wants to overturn them.
Do not lay on the multitude the blame
Do not lay on the multitude the blame that is due to a few.
Here the great art lies, to discern in
Here the great art lies, to discern in what the law is to be to restraint and punishment, and in what things persuasion only is to work.
Whatever you think of de Sade, he was a
Whatever you think of de Sade, he was a complex figure and we should not look for easy answers with him. He was, strangely perhaps, against the death penalty, and he was never put in prison for murders or anything like that.
The refined punishments of the spiritual
The refined punishments of the spiritual mode are usually much more indecent and dangerous than a good smack.
Adversities such as being homeless and
Adversities such as being homeless and going to prison has made many people stronger.