George Bernard Shaw Quotes

Every prison that men build Is built with bricks of shame, And bound with bars lest Christ should see How men their brothers maim.

Prison is where you promise yourself the right to live.

When I was in prison, I read an article - don't be shocked when I say I was in prison. You're still in prison. That's what America means: prison.

Prisons are fascinating places, especially when the inmates are educated white-collar types.

A duty to the public must be to stop prisoners reoffending through successful rehabilitation.

For one crime which is expiated in prison ten thousand are committed thoughtlessly by those who condemn.

Let us be clear. Prison works. It ensures that we are protected from murderers, muggers and rapists, and it makes many who are tempted to commit crime think twice.

The criminal left belongs not in a dormitory, but in a penitentiary.

No one punishes the evil-doer under the notion, or for the reason, that he has done wrong -- only the unreasonable fury of a beast acts in that way. But he who desires to inflict rational punishment does not retaliate for a past wrong, for that which is done cannot be undone, but he has regard to the future, and is desirous that the man who is punished, and he who sees him punished, may be deterred from doing wrong again.

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

If the people would but analyze the human equation of a prison they might better account for the crimes that are visited upon them in cities, towns, and hamlets, ofttimes by men who graduated with an education and equipment for just that sort of retributive service from some penal institution.

In any case, frequent punishments are a sign of weakness or slackness in the government. There is no man so bad that he cannot be made good for something. No man should be put to death, even as an example, if he can be left to live without danger to society.

Only to those who have been in prison does freedom have such great meaning.

In the very progress of society, the prison has in the very nature of things undergone some improvement, but there are vast stretches yet to be covered before the prison becomes, if it ever does, an institution for the reclamation and rehabilitation of erring and unfortunate men and women.

I'm going to do the time and I am going to do it the right way

I believe the public therefore expect the justice system to focus on rehabilitation to reduce the risk of subsequent offending - and the likelihood of them becoming a victim of crime.

No one wants dangerous criminals in our communities.

I want to see prison numbers come down. We need better custody that cuts reoffending and crime. And we need to ensure judges, magistrates and the public have full confidence in the other penalties available.

We'll get way further if we educate people and not lock them up.

We rarely have good alternatives to offer to prison - that's our default.

So if you want a really effective criminal justice strategy, you don't build bigger prisons, you invest money in young kids - and you accept that it's going to take years to work through, but it's a more effective strategy.

We are a humane society, and one which believes that we have to help rehabilitate offenders so they turn away from crime.

This is not rocket science. If you mentor and support people when they leave prison they're less likely to reoffend.

I saw worse stuff inside prison than I ever saw in the streets.

Prison is not meant to be comfortable. It's not meant to be somewhere anyone would ever want to go back to.