When it comes to freedom, we are but
When it comes to freedom, we are but prisoners of our own desires.
The uneven impact of actual enforcement
The uneven impact of actual enforcement measures tends to mirror and reinforce more general patterns of discrimination (along socioeconomic, racial and ethnic, sexual, and perhaps generational lines) within the society. As a consequence, such enforcement (ineffective as it may be in producing conformity) almost certainly reinforces feelings of alienation already prevalent within major segments of the population.
Women now have choices. They can be
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.
Man is born free, and everywhere he is
Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.
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.
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.
In prison, you get the chance to see who
In prison, you get the chance to see who really loves you.
The solution to our drug problem is not
The solution to our drug problem is not in incarceration.
I don't like jail, they got the wrong
I don't like jail, they got the wrong kind of bars in there.
A pedestal is as much a prison as any
A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.
Definition, rationality, and structure
Definition, rationality, and structure are ways of seeing, but they become prisons when they blank out other ways of seeing.
It is not at the table, but in prison,
It is not at the table, but in prison, that you learn who your true friends are.
No man should be judge in his own case.
No man should be judge in his own case.
I know not whether laws be right, or
I know not whether laws be right, or whether laws be wrong; All that we know who lie in gaol is that the wall is strong; And that each day is like a year, a year whose days are long.
Every crime has, in the moment of its
Every crime has, in the moment of its perpetration, Its own avenging angel--dark misgiving, An ominous sinking at the inmost heart.
Fast closed with double grills
Fast closed with double grills
And triple gates – the cell
To wicked souls is hell;
But to a mind that's innocent
'Tis only iron, wood and stone.
One man meets an infamous punishment for
One man meets an infamous punishment for that crime which confers a diadem upon another.
Let us remember that justice must be
Let us remember that justice must be observed even to the lowest.
Written laws are like spiders' webs, and
Written laws are like spiders' webs, and will, like them, only entangle and hold the poor and weak, while the rich and powerful will easily break through them.
In a civilized society, all crimes are
In a civilized society, all crimes are likely to be sins, but most sins are not and ought not to be treated as crimes.
I know how men in exile feed on dreams
I know how men in exile feed on dreams of hope.
The torment of human frustration,
The torment of human frustration, whatever its immediate cause, is the knowledge that the self is in prison, its vital force and 'mangled mind' leaking away in lonely, wasteful self-conflict.
To seek the redress of grievances by
To seek the redress of grievances by going to law, is like sheep running for shelter to a bramble bush.
Overlook our deeds, since you know that
Overlook our deeds, since you know that crime was absent from our inclination.
