Society prepares the crime; the criminal commits it.
The perfection of a thing consists in its essence; there are perfect criminals, as there are men of perfect probity.
America is the land of the second chance – and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap - people shouldn't read that stuff.
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, Can be retentive to the strength of spirit; But life, being weary of these worldly bars, Never lacks power to dismiss itself.
It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.
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.
One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.
A man who has no excuse for a crime, is indeed defenseless!
Crime is a logical extension of the sort of behavior that often [is] considered perfectly respectable in legitimate business.
The refined punishments of the spiritual mode are usually much more indecent and dangerous than a good smack.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
The difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion is the thickness of a prison walls.
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.
It is impossible to go through life without trust: That is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself.
You stuff somebody into the American dream, and it becomes a prison.
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap - people shouldn't read that stuff.
Extreme justice is extreme injustice.
No man survives when freedom fails. The best men rot in filthy jails, and those who cry 'appease, appease' are hanged by those they tried to please.
Steal goods and you’ll go to prison, steal lands and you are a king.
A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.
Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release.
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.
If it's near dinner-time, the foreman takes out his watch when the jury has retired, and says: "Dear me, gentlemen, ten minutes to five, I declare! I dine at five, gentlemen." "So do I," says everybody else, except two men who ought to have dined at three and seem more than half disposed to stand out in consequence. The foreman smiles, and puts up his watch:--"Well, gentlemen, what do we say, plaintiff or defendant, gentlemen?
Crimes lead one into another; they who are capable of being forgers are capable of being incendiaries.
