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.
Nor cell, nor chain, nor dungeon speaks
Nor cell, nor chain, nor dungeon speaks to the murderer like the voice of solitude.
The best situation of all, and one
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.
Whatever is worthy to be loved for
Whatever is worthy to be loved for anything is worthy of preservation. A wise and dispassionate legislator, if any such should ever arise among men, will not condemn to death him who has done or is likely to do more service than injury to society. Blocks and gibbets are the nearest objects with legislators, and their business is never with hopes or with virtues.
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.
Crime succeeds by sudden despatch;
Crime succeeds by sudden despatch; honest counsels gain vigor by delay.
I have never been contained except I
I have never been contained except I made the prison.
What is crime amongst the multitude, is
What is crime amongst the multitude, is only vice among the few.
We who live in prison, and in whose
We who live in prison, and in whose lives there is no event but sorrow, have to measure time by throbs of pain, and the record of bitter moments.
The idea that the sole aim of punishment
The idea that the sole aim of punishment is to prevent crime is obviously grounded upon the theory that crime can be prevented, which is almost as dubious as the notion that poverty can be prevented.
Laws do not persuade just because they
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten.
Adversities such as being homeless and
Adversities such as being homeless and going to prison has made many people stronger.
Extreme justice is extreme injustice.
Extreme justice is extreme injustice.
The refined punishments of the spiritual
The refined punishments of the spiritual mode are usually much more indecent and dangerous than a good smack.
Reality becomes a prison to those who
Reality becomes a prison to those who can’t get out of it.
Justice is that virtue of the soul which
Justice is that virtue of the soul which is distributive according to desert.
The worst of prison life, he thought,
The worst of prison life, he thought, was not being able to close his door.
There are dreadful punishments enacted
There are dreadful punishments enacted against thieves; but it were much better to make such good provisions, by which every man might be put in a method how to live, and so to be preserved from the fatal necessity of stealing and dying for it.
Distrust all in whom the impulse to
Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.
Justice renders to every one his due.
Justice renders to every one his due.
In prisons, those things withheld from
In prisons, those things withheld from and denied to the prisoner become precisely what he wants most of all.
Some laws of state aimed at curbing
Some laws of state aimed at curbing crime are even more criminal.
They're not supposed to show prison
They're not supposed to show prison films in prison. Especially ones that are about escaping.
On a planet that increasingly resembles
On a planet that increasingly resembles one huge Maximum Security prison, the only intelligent choice is to plan a jail break.
Law is merely the expression of the will
Law is merely the expression of the will of the strongest for the time being, and therefore laws have no fixity, but shift from generation to generation.
