If punishment reaches not the mind and makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender.
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap - people shouldn't read that stuff.
Crime succeeds by sudden despatch; honest counsels gain vigor by delay.
I never saw a man who looked With such a wistful eye Upon that little tent of blue Which prisoners call the sky.
To my mind, to kill in war is not a whit better than to commit ordinary murder.
To be in prison so long, it's difficult to remember exactly what you did to get there.
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.
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.
The mellow sweetness of pumpkin pie off a prison spoon is something you will never forget.
In jail a man has no personality. He is a minor disposal problem and a few entries on reports. Nobody cares who loves or hates him, what he looks like, what he did with his life. Nobody reacts to him unless he gives trouble. Nobody abuses him. All that is asked of him is that he go quietly to the right cell and remain quiet when he gets there. There is nothing to fight against, nothing to be mad at. The jailers are quiet men without animosity or sadism.
Well, I don't think prisons are the answer to everything, obviously.
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.
Crime is a logical extension of the sort of behavior that often [is] considered perfectly respectable in legitimate business.
By noiselessly going to a prison a civil-resister ensures a calm atmosphere.
Oh who is that young sinner with the handcuffs on his wrist? And what has he been after that they groan and shake their fists? And wherefore is he wearing such a conscience-stricken air? Oh they're taking him to prison for the colour of his hair.
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap - people shouldn't read that stuff.
I wrote a million words in the first year, and I could never have done that outside of prison.
It is the deed that teaches, not the name we give it. Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their own kind.
Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization.
To seek the redress of grievances by going to law, is like sheep running for shelter to a bramble bush.
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap - people shouldn't read that stuff.
Justice renders to every one his due.
One crime has to be concealed by another.
It is impossible to go through life without trust: That is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself.
