Quotes

Wherever any one is against his will, that is to him a prison.

A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.

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 capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.

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.

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

If we look at Houston, which is a very environmentally toxic place, we find that it has one of the highest levels of young men going to prison and also among the highest levels of illiteracy in the country.

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.

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

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

The world is a prison in which solitary confinement is preferable.

If punishment reaches not the mind and makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender.

Wicked deeds are generally done, even with impunity, for the mere desire of occupation.

We shall not yield to violence. We shall not be deprived of union freedoms. We shall never agree with sending people to prison for their convictions.

One of the many lessons that one learns in prison is, that things are what they are and will be what they will be.

It was only when I lay there on the rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not between states nor between social classes nor between political parties, but right through every human heart, through all human hearts. And that is why I turn back to the years of my imprisonment and say, sometimes to the astonishment of those about me, bless you, prison, for having been a part of my life.

There are dreadful punishments enacted against thieves; but it were much better to make such good provisions, by which every man might be put in a method how to live, and so to be preserved from the fatal necessity of stealing and dying for it.

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

I never saw a man who looked With such a wistful eye Upon that little tent of blue Which prisoners call the sky.

The power of punishment is to silence, not to confute.

To my mind, to kill in war is not a whit better than to commit ordinary murder.

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

The most anxious man in a prison is the governor.

He was a first-time nonviolent possible offender, ... And under the mandatory minimums, he was put in prison for 15 years. Not only does the punishment not fit the crime, but the mandatory minimums don't give judges any discretion to look at the background of the case, to read into the specifics of the case. I don't know a judge who really is in favor of the mandatory minimums.

Adversities such as being homeless and going to prison has made many people stronger.