He had drawn many a thousand of these rations in prisons and camps, and though he'd never had an opportunity to weight them on scales, and although, being a man of timid nature, he knew no way of standing up for his rights, he, like every other prisoner, had discovered long ago that honest weight was never to be found in the bread-cutting. There was short weight in every ration. The only point was how short. So every day you took a look to soothe your soul - today, maybe, they haven't snitched any.
To be in prison so long, it's difficult to remember exactly what you did to get there.
Prosecution I have managed to avoid; but I have been arrested, charged in a police court, have refused to be bound over, and thereupon have been unconditionally released - to my great regret; for I have always wanted to know what going to prison was like.
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap - people shouldn't read that stuff.
The severest justice may not always be the best policy.
The worst prison is not of stone. It is of a throbbing heart, outraged by an infamous life.
Hanging was the worst use a man could be put to.
Show me the prison, Show me the jail, Show me the prisoner whose life has gone stale. And I'll show you a young man with so many reasons why And there, but for fortune, go you or I.
Vices are not crimes.
I never saw a man who looked With such a wistful eye Upon that little tent of blue Which prisoners call the sky.
What restrains us from killing is partly fear of punishment, partly moral scruple, and partly what may be described as a sense of humor.
While we have prisons it matters little which of us occupy the cells.
Trial by jury itself, instead of being a security to persons who are accused, shall be a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.
The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the evidence.
So justice while she winks at crimes, Stumbles on innocence sometimes.
Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts.
The public have more interest in the punishment of an injury than he who receives it.
In a civilized society, all crimes are likely to be sins, but most sins are not and ought not to be treated as crimes.
No written law has been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion.
The reformative effect of punishment is a belief that dies hard, chiefly I think, because it is so satisfying to our sadistic impulses.
To seek the redress of grievances by going to law, is like sheep running for shelter to a bramble bush.
Extreme justice is extreme injustice.
One man meets an infamous punishment for that crime which confers a diadem upon another.
The best situation of all, and one frequently utilized, is for jails and prisons to allow volunteer ministers of all faiths to enter prisons and offer their services to the inmates who want them. That way, the religious needs of inmates are met but without government funds being spent.
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%.
