Quotes

The perfection of a thing consists in its essence; there are perfect criminals, as there are men of perfect probity.

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.

One man meets an infamous punishment for that crime which confers a diadem upon another.

To trial bring her stolen charms, and let her prison be my arms.

Vices are not crimes.

I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told him if he had stolen a railroad he would be a United States Senator.

We don't seem to be able to check crime, so why not legalize it and then tax it out of business.

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.

To try to raise a son from inside the prison walls is a very difficult thing. But I want to say to the world my son at 16 was the one who tried the most to get me out of prison.
~Jim Bakker

I have been studying how I may compare This prison where I live unto the world; And, for because the world is populous, And here is not a creature but myself, I cannot do it. Yet I'll hammer it out.

He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.

Crime succeeds by sudden despatch; honest counsels gain vigor by delay.

I wrote a million words in the first year, and I could never have done that outside of prison.

Concepts of justice must have hands and feet to carry out justice in every case in the shortest possible time and the lowest possible cost. That is the challenge to every lawyer and judge in America.

I have paid no poll-tax for six years. I was put into a jail once on this account, for one night; and, as I stood considering the walls of solid stone, I could not help being struck with the foolishness of that institution which treated me as if I were mere flesh and blood and bones, to be locked up...I saw that, if there was a wall of stone between me and my townsmen, there was a still more difficult one to climb or break through, before they could get to be as free as I was. I did not for a moment feel confined, and the walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar.

To be in prison so long, it's difficult to remember exactly what you did to get there.

History is full of people who went to prison or were burned at the stake for proclaiming their ideas. Society has always defended itself.

Once we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our mind, our duty is to furnish it well.

To be at peace in crime! Ah, who can thus flatter himself.

They took away my money, my family, and my security. Why couldn't they destroy my ideas? We will question them in court tomorrow as we trigger The Revolution of all revolutions!

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

Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a God.

On a planet that increasingly resembles one huge Maximum Security prison, the only intelligent choice is to plan a jail break.

We're in a war. People who blast some pot on a casual basis are guilty of treason.

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