It becomes not a law-maker to be a law-breaker.
Wherever any one is against his will, that is to him a prison.
A sick person is a prisoner.
He was a first-time nonviolent possible offender, ... And under the mandatory minimums, he was put in prison for 15 years. Not only does the punishment not fit the crime, but the mandatory minimums don't give judges any discretion to look at the background of the case, to read into the specifics of the case. I don't know a judge who really is in favor of the mandatory minimums.
Prisons don't rehabilitate, they don't punish, they don't protect, so what the hell do they do?
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.
Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts.
Do not lay on the multitude the blame that is due to a few.
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap - people shouldn't read that stuff.
Liberty is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude.
It is better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent suffer.
The power of punishment is to silence, not to confute.
The perfection of a thing consists in its essence; there are perfect criminals, as there are men of perfect probity.
The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.
To my mind, to kill in war is not a whit better than to commit ordinary murder.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
Prison continues, on those who are entrusted to it, a work begun elsewhere, which the whole of society pursues on each individual through innumerable mechanisms of discipline.
Shyness is the prison of the heart.
Once we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our mind, our duty is to furnish it well.
Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.
Justice is justice though it's always delayed and finally done only by mistake.
