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.
It isn't true that convicts live like
It isn't true that convicts live like animals: animals have more room to move around.
Three hundred years ago a prisoner
Three hundred years ago a prisoner condemned to the Tower of London carved on the wall of his cell this sentiment to keep up his spirits during his long imprisonment: “It is not adversity that kills, but the impatience with which we bear adversity.”
So justice while she winks at crimes,
So justice while she winks at crimes, Stumbles on innocence sometimes.
Steal goods and you’ll go to prison,
Steal goods and you’ll go to prison, steal lands and you are a king.
One of the problems that the marijuana
One of the problems that the marijuana reform movement consistently faces is that everyone wants to talk about what marijuana does, but no one ever wants to look at what marijuana prohibition does. Marijuana never kicks down your door in the middle of the night. Marijuana never locks up sick and dying people, does not suppress medical research, does not peek in bedroom windows. Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.
Since 1957, black people have
Since 1957, black people have experienced double-digit unemployment - in good times and bad times. Look at the population of African Americans in prison. They represent more than half the population of prisoners in the country, 55 percent of those on death row.
Society has used the juvenile courts to
Society has used the juvenile courts to create a caste system where there are throw-away people.
When you are younger you get blamed for
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.
Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners
Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts.
He who profits by a crime commits it.
He who profits by a crime commits it.
Justice is that virtue of the soul which
Justice is that virtue of the soul which is distributive according to desert.
The only real prison is fear, and the
The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.
In jail a man has no personality. He is
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.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
I submit that an individual who breaks a
I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.
No written law has been more binding
No written law has been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion.
Show me the prison, Show me the jail,
Show me the prison, Show me the jail, Show me the prisoner whose life has gone stale. And I'll show you a young man with so many reasons why And there, but for fortune, go you or I.
What restrains us from killing is partly
What restrains us from killing is partly fear of punishment, partly moral scruple, and partly what may be described as a sense of humor.
Our task must be to free ourselves from
Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
There are only two places in the world
There are only two places in the world where time takes precedence over the job to be done. School and prison.
A variety in punishment is of utility,
A variety in punishment is of utility, as well as a proportion.
I can tell you this on a stack of
I can tell you this on a stack of Bibles: prisons are archaic, brutal, unregenerative, overcrowded hell holes where the inmates are treated like animals with absolutely not one humane thought given to what they are going to do once they are released. You're an animal in a cage and you're treated like one.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
Women have worked hard; starved in
Women have worked hard; starved in prison; given of their time and lives that we might sit in the House of Commons and take part in the legislating of this country.
