|
The prison system, inherently unjust and inhumane |
|
Is the ultimate expression of injustice and inhumanity in the society at large. |
|
Those of us on the outside do not like to think of wardens and guards as our surrogates, yet they are. |
|
And they are intimately locked in a deadly embrace with their human captives behind prison walls. |
|
By extension, so are we. |
|
The terrible double meaning is thus imparted to the original question of human ethics "Am I my brother's keeper?" |
|
The second of |
|
February, 1980 |
|
Began three days of misery |
|
A scene of retaliation |
|
Epitomizing violence, horror, and vindication |
|
Thieves, murderers, and rapists |
|
Inundated their prison like homicidal sadists |
|
Convict and guards alike would pay the price |
|
To them the electric chair would look like paradise |
|
Only degradation, torture, and cremation would suffice [chorus] |
|
A sea of agony rolled in like the coming of the tide |
|
The more fortunate escaped the insanity through suicide |
|
The screams of the dying would haunt the living to the grave |
|
Survivors of the riot relive the nightmare every day |
|
The last act of defiance |
|
With a never-ending appetite |
|
Barbiturates set them off like dynamite |
|
Eradicating informants |
|
Acetylene torches dealt the punishment |
|
Melted from skin to bone |
|
The fire silenced their screams to moans |
|
Smoke filled the air from bodies set aflame |
|
Begging for mercy, but their words were spoken in vain |
|
They weren't allowed to perish until they cherished all the pain [chorus] |
|
Guards they had taken hostage |
|
Were to blame for pushing them over the edge |
|
Their brutality would be their demise |
|
Like sharks in a frenzy they lashed out at their prize |
|
When the madness had ended |
|
The gore was too intense to be comprehended |
|
No one explained the real reason why |
|
For cruelty of a few, so many should die |
|
They knew of the flaws, but still insist the cause was justified [chorus] |
