Once you abolish capital punishment,
you then must deal with permanent inmates
Those who kill know they are here for life-
yet they read,hope and dream of possibilities of reprieve
Confinement does not kill such hopes-even when escape
is as impossible as forgiveness.Some are innocent-
at least of intention.Others acknowledge their relief when caught
and the necessity for adaptation to incarceration.
There are poets,artists,philosophers here-
remember Jean Genet /Papillon?
All prisons are not alike,nor are their inmates
Once the possibility of execution is removed,
we must all deal with time,duties,fear and guilt.
We are our own harsh judges.We are our own hanging juries.
The walls are visible to those who have been caught
Most escape via lawyers or good fortune
The rest forget most of those stacked within prisons
unless they are related,or love them,or are paid
to make sure they do not entertain
any possibility of escape
to be with us.That is why we pay guards
That is why we build prisons.Mirrors glare hurts.
Always,within-"a hope,concealed.."
for the INSIDE BOOKS PROJECT
INSIDE BOOKS PROJECT is an all-volunteer nonprofit educational initiative to provide free books to those incarcerated.There is a commercial on YOUTUBE,and they have websites, a blog on myspace and are on FACEBOOK
awesome cause, Thom (you always seem to "be" right where the GOOD stuff is happening. INSIDE BOOKS is a wonderful program that literally REACHES IN and touches where most needed. I know in the time I spent in service to the STATE OF TEXAS (as opposed to that spent in service to the US Constitution), books at times lit the path and at others encouraged me to find my own.....
ReplyDeleteI donate all my used paperbacks and especially non-fiction and non-Evagelical writings on comparative and world cultures/religions to County Jails.....unlike most "audiences", when a book finds its way into a jail cell or dormitory, rest assured, it will not only be read, but EXAMINED if not applied....
— Patrick Covington