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