I just remember that disturbing feeling of walking into that prison, the complete loss of privacy, the complete loss of stimulation, dignity.
There's no greater threat to our independence, to our cherished freedoms and personal liberties than the continual, relentless injection of these insidious poisons into our system. We must decide whether we cherish independence from drugs, without which there is no freedom.
Prisons don't rehabilitate, they don't punish, they don't protect, so what the hell do they do?
Shyness is the prison of the heart.
They were being driven to a prison, through no fault of their own, in all probability for life. In comparison, how much easier it would be to walk to the gallows than to this tomb of living horrors!
No crime has been without a precedent.
Man is condemned to be free.
We shall fight against them, throw them in prisons and destroy them.
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
To trial bring her stolen charms, and let her prison be my arms.
Faults of the head are punished in this world, those of the heart in another; but as most of our vices are compound, so also is their punishment.
Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future lives and crimes to society.
There is no greater punishment of wickedness that that it is dissatisfied with itself and its deeds.
Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X came out of prison stronger.
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.
Virtue pardons the wicked, as the sandal-tree perfumes the axe which strikes it.
The number of laws is constantly growing in all countries and, owing to this, what is called crime is very often not a crime at all, for it contains no element of violence or harm.
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.”
One man meets an infamous punishment for that crime which confers a diadem upon another.
Self is the only prison that can bind the soul.
He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.
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.
The idea that the sole aim of punishment is to prevent crime is obviously grounded upon the theory that crime can be prevented, which is almost as dubious as the notion that poverty can be prevented.
