Quotes

Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached.

The worst of prison life, he thought, was not being able to close his door.

Oh who is that young sinner with the handcuffs on his wrist? And what has he been after that they groan and shake their fists? And wherefore is he wearing such a conscience-stricken air? Oh they're taking him to prison for the colour of his hair.

Crimes generally punish themselves.

Crime is a logical extension of the sort of behavior that often [is] considered perfectly respectable in legitimate business.

Those magistrates who can prevent crime, and do not, in effect encourage it.

Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release.

Laws do not persuade just because they threaten.

The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.

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.

The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business.

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.

When it comes to freedom, we are but prisoners of our own desires.

Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices - just recognize them.

Pardon is the virtue of victory.

Crimes lead one into another; they who are capable of being forgers are capable of being incendiaries.

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 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.

It is impossible to go through life without trust: That is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself.

The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.

The English laws punish vice; the Chinese laws do more, they reward virtue.

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.

Here the great art lies, to discern in what the law is to be to restraint and punishment, and in what things persuasion only is to work.

I am an expert of electricity. My father occupied the chair of applied electricity at the state prison.

If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking…is freedom.