American Notes/The Uncommercial Traveler Quotes

“In its intention I amwell convinced that [the Eastern Penitentiary; solitary confinement] is kind, humane, and meant for reformation; but I am persuaded that those who devised this system of Prison Discipline, and those benevolent gentlemen who carry it into execution, do not know what it is that they are doing. I believe that very few men are capable of estimating the immense amount of torture and agony that this dreadful punishment, prolonged for years, inflicts upon the sufferers...”
― Charles Dickens, American Notes/The Uncommercial Traveler