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.
To be in prison so long, it's difficult to remember exactly what you did to get there.
When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat. When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.
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.
Prisons don't rehabilitate, they don't punish, they don't protect, so what the hell do they do?
They took away my money, my family, and my security. Why couldn't they destroy my ideas? We will question them in court tomorrow as we trigger The Revolution of all revolutions!
The mellow sweetness of pumpkin pie off a prison spoon is something you will never forget.
Justice is justice though it's always delayed and finally done only by mistake.
The common argument that crime is caused by poverty is a kind of slander on the poor.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
It is hard, but it is excellent, to find the right knowledge of when correction is necessary and when grace doth most avail.
There is a point at which even justice does injury.
We're in a war. People who blast some pot on a casual basis are guilty of treason.
To make punishments efficacious, two things are necessary. They must never be disproportioned to the offence, and they must be certain.
Some laws of state aimed at curbing crime are even more criminal.
If we were brought to trial for the crimes we have committed against ourselves, few would escape the gallows.
We don't seem to be able to check crime, so why not legalize it and then tax it out of business.
Women now have choices. They can be married, not married, have a job, not have a job, be married with children, unmarried with children. Men have the same choice we've always had: work, or prison.
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.
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.
Adversities such as being homeless and going to prison has made many people stronger.
Fear can be like a prison. It is, however, a self made prison. Many are imprisoned by fear. No one else can liberate them from this prison. Others may inspire them but they must liberate themselves.
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten.
A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.
