When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap - people shouldn't read that stuff.
No crime has been without a precedent.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.
The most anxious man in a prison is the governor.
There's no greater threat to our independence, to our cherished freedoms and personal liberties than the continual, relentless injection of these insidious poisons into our system. We must decide whether we cherish independence from drugs, without which there is no freedom.
The contagion of crime is like that of the plague. Criminals collected together corrupt each other; they are worse than ever when at the termination of their punishment they re-enter society.
Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a God.
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.
Clemency alone makes us equal to the gods.
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.
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, Can be retentive to the strength of spirit; But life, being weary of these worldly bars, Never lacks power to dismiss itself.
Some laws of state aimed at curbing crime are even more criminal.
To trial bring her stolen charms, and let her prison be my arms.
Adversities such as being homeless and going to prison has made many people stronger.
Well, I don't think prisons are the answer to everything, obviously.
I was in prison, and you came unto me. Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
~(Jesus Christ) Matthew 25:36, 40
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.
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
We are prisoners of ideas.
Justice is justice though it's always delayed and finally done only by mistake.
We're in a war. People who blast some pot on a casual basis are guilty of treason.
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.”
Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release.
