I was in prison, and you came unto me.
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
On average, drug prisoners spend more
On average, drug prisoners spend more time in federal prison than rapists, who often get out on early release because of the overcrowding in prison caused by the Drug War.
The common argument that crime is caused
The common argument that crime is caused by poverty is a kind of slander on the poor.
I have paid no poll-tax for six years. I
I have paid no poll-tax for six years. I was put into a jail once on this account, for one night; and, as I stood considering the walls of solid stone, I could not help being struck with the foolishness of that institution which treated me as if I were mere flesh and blood and bones, to be locked up...I saw that, if there was a wall of stone between me and my townsmen, there was a still more difficult one to climb or break through, before they could get to be as free as I was. I did not for a moment feel confined, and the walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar.
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.
The object of punishment is prevention
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
He who opens a school door, closes a
He who opens a school door, closes a prison.
We're in a war. People who blast some
We're in a war. People who blast some pot on a casual basis are guilty of treason.
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.
Prison, dungeons, blessed places where
Prison, dungeons, blessed places where evil is impossible because they are the crossroads of all the evil in the world. One cannot commit evil in hell.
It isn't true that convicts live like
It isn't true that convicts live like animals: animals have more room to move around.
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap - people shouldn't read that stuff.
You stuff somebody into the American
You stuff somebody into the American dream, and it becomes a prison.
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.
Crime is a logical extension of the sort
Crime is a logical extension of the sort of behavior that often [is] considered perfectly respectable in legitimate business.
We don't seem to be able to check crime,
We don't seem to be able to check crime, so why not legalize it and then tax it out of business.
When it comes to freedom, we are but
When it comes to freedom, we are but prisoners of our own desires.
He who does not prevent a crime when he
He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.
I don't like jail, they got the wrong
I don't like jail, they got the wrong kind of bars in there.
Liberty is rendered even more precious
Liberty is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude.
The degree of civilization in a society
The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.
To trial bring her stolen charms, and
To trial bring her stolen charms, and let her prison be my arms.
The most anxious man in a prison is the
The most anxious man in a prison is the governor.
It was only when I lay there on the
It was only when I lay there on the rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not between states nor between social classes nor between political parties, but right through every human heart, through all human hearts. And that is why I turn back to the years of my imprisonment and say, sometimes to the astonishment of those about me, bless you, prison, for having been a part of my life.
A country is in a bad state, which is
A country is in a bad state, which is governed only by laws; because a thousand things occur for which laws cannot provide, and where authority ought to interpose.
