Crimes lead one into another; they who are capable of being forgers are capable of being incendiaries.
In prisons, those things withheld from and denied to the prisoner become precisely what he wants most of all.
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.
When it comes to freedom, we are but prisoners of our own desires.
Money will determine whether the accused goes to prison or walks out of the courtroom a free man.
What is crime amongst the multitude, is only vice among the few.
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.
The English laws punish vice; the Chinese laws do more, they reward virtue.
Whatever is worthy to be loved for anything is worthy of preservation. A wise and dispassionate legislator, if any such should ever arise among men, will not condemn to death him who has done or is likely to do more service than injury to society. Blocks and gibbets are the nearest objects with legislators, and their business is never with hopes or with virtues.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
I have been studying how I may compare this prison where I live unto the world; Shut up in the prison of their own consciences.
If you strike at, imprison, or kill us, out of our prisons or graves we will still evoke a spirit that will thwart you, and perhaps, raise a force that will destroy you! We defy you! Do your worst!
We don't seem to be able to check crime, so why not legalize it and then tax it out of business.
Trial by jury itself, instead of being a security to persons who are accused, shall be a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.
Crime succeeds by sudden despatch; honest counsels gain vigor by delay.
It is not at the table, but in prison, that you learn who your true friends are.
Every instance of a man's suffering the penalty of the law is an instance of the failure of that penalty in effecting its purpose, which is to deter.
I have never been contained except I made the prison.
If punishment reaches not the mind and makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender.
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.”
Prisons don't rehabilitate, they don't punish, they don't protect, so what the hell do they do?
One crime is everything; two nothing.
A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards, as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push.
It becomes not a law-maker to be a law-breaker.
Reality becomes a prison to those who can’t get out of it.
