Society prepares the crime; the criminal
Society prepares the crime; the criminal commits it.
Fast closed with double grills
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.
I wrote a million words in the first
I wrote a million words in the first year, and I could never have done that outside of prison.
A just chastisement may benefit a man,
A just chastisement may benefit a man, though it seldom does; but an unjust one changes all his blood to gall.
The reformative effect of punishment is
The reformative effect of punishment is a belief that dies hard, chiefly I think, because it is so satisfying to our sadistic impulses.
Well does Heaven have care that no man
Well does Heaven have care that no man secures happiness by crime.
We have initiated programs for re-entry
We have initiated programs for re-entry offenders, since some 500,000 to 600,000 offenders will come out of prison each year for the next three or four years. We want to have positive alternatives when they come back to the community.
Prison continues, on those who are
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.
Governments have tried to stop crime
Governments have tried to stop crime through punishment throughout the ages, but crime continued in the past punishment remains. Crime can only be stopped through a preventive approach in the schools. You teach the students Transcendental Meditation, and right away they’ll begin using their full brain physiology sensible and they will not get sidetracked into wrong things.
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.
While we have prisons it matters little
While we have prisons it matters little which of us occupy the cells.
It is certain that the study of human
It is certain that the study of human psychology, if it were undertaken exclusively in prisons, would also lead to misrepresentation and absurd generalizations.
Distrust all in whom the impulse to
Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.
On a planet that increasingly resembles
On a planet that increasingly resembles one huge Maximum Security prison, the only intelligent choice is to plan a jail break.
To be in prison so long, it's difficult
To be in prison so long, it's difficult to remember exactly what you did to get there.
We judge ourselves by what we feel
We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.
As we grow in wisdom, we pardon more
As we grow in wisdom, we pardon more freely.
It is impossible to go through life
It is impossible to go through life without trust: That is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself.
The solution to our drug problem is not
The solution to our drug problem is not in incarceration.
Society has used the juvenile courts to
Society has used the juvenile courts to create a caste system where there are throw-away people.
Do not lay on the multitude the blame
Do not lay on the multitude the blame that is due to a few.
I am an expert of electricity. My father
I am an expert of electricity. My father occupied the chair of applied electricity at the state prison.
The most anxious man in a prison is the
The most anxious man in a prison is the governor.
In prisons, those things withheld from
In prisons, those things withheld from and denied to the prisoner become precisely what he wants most of all.
I have been studying how I may compare
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.
